Taking Our Chances
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: When they decided to leave, they didn't know what was out there... when Rick and the crew end up in San Andreas, what will they run into?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is set separately from** _ **Another Day In Paradise**_ **, Negan will appear in this story.**

"Damn… this place looks… safer." Amber says as she and the others were headed into San Andreas.

No walkers were seen… vehicles weren't rusted out and were driveable, evidenced by the traffic.

"Normal… but appearances can be deceiving, Amber girl. Remember that." Rick says as he drove on into the city, Judith asleep in the crib in the RV and the others asleep or either talking quietly.

The camp wasn't safe anymore… they had to hit the metaphorical restart button.

But right now, Rick had to hit the brakes and accidentally woke the ones who were sleeping as he had been very close to hitting a disheveled and clearly injured small brunette.

"If she's bit, I'll put the poor girl out of her misery." Amber says, grabbing onto her spiked bat and dogs chains.

Amber ran outside, the girl screaming in fright and putting her arms up in front of herself.

"Please… don't hurt me." The girl says, Amber checking her for bite marks and finding none… but she did find a stab wound on the girl's right side.

"I just had to make sure that you weren't bit. The hell happened to you?" Amber says.

"Some lunatic ambushed me… kept going on about me being a traitor." The girl says, startling Amber. "Wait… what did you mean by bit? What's going on, have more of them showed up?" She asks.

"Amber, she okay?" Carl asks after walking outside and over to them.

"Crazy son of a bitch attacked her. She hasn't been bit." Amber says.

"What's your name?" Carl asks.

"Carly…" The girl says as Amber and Carl helped her into the R.V, Daryl aiming his crossbow at Carly when he saw the blood.

"Daryl, my dear, point that thing somewhere else." Amber says.

"Is she bit?" Daryl asks.

"Daryl, do you seriously think I'm that stupid to bring someone that's bit into the RV?" Amber asks.

Daryl lowered the crossbow, Amber helping Carly sit down and pulling Carly's tank top up halfway… she hissed in sympathy after seeing the knife pattern, a K-Bar.

"I've just got to ask a few questions." Amber says.

"Which are?" Carly asks as Daryl found a first aid kit.

"How many walkers you killed?" Amber asks.

"I lost count after the first one a few weeks back but since then, we haven't ran into any… we've all taken shelter in the desert when they first showed up but then those things just stopped completely. Haven't seen anymore so we all returned to our normal lives… maybe that was the problem though. At least those things were predictable… it's the normal people you've got to watch out for." Carly says, Amber patching Carly's wound up.

"So aside from a handful of walkers, not too many casualties?" Daryl asks.

"So far… hey, watch that antiseptic please." Carly says… but Amber could tell that before any walkers, Carly had killed in the past. "Something else you want to know, I know that look… my first kill was at 13. Someone held me at gunpoint during a shootout… it was kill or be killed." She says, Amber and Daryl taken aback by that.

"13? Just… how old are you now?" Daryl asks.

"19." Carly says, Daryl having assumed Carly was only 15 or 16.

"Another thing… who's the lunatic outside?" Daryl asks, Carly seeing Trevor.

"Please tell me there aren't any more children here." Carly says, Trevor banging his fists on the RV door and waking Judith up, Rick going to his crying daughter and picking her up.

"Open this fucking door!" Trevor yells.

"What do you want?! If you're bit, you're dead!" Daryl says.

"I'm not bit but I can see that traitorous bitch!" Trevor yells, Shadow and Banjo running to the RV door and start to bark and growl at it.

"Always good to keep animals around… oh, hey, no you don't." Daryl says, stopping Carly from standing up.

"Trust me, they wouldn't attack unless I tell them to." Amber says.

Carly nodded and Amber helped her lie down on her uninjured side… before seeing that Carly was holding a phone and on that phone screen, a picture of Carly and Johnny, Amber putting it together.

"Get those mutts to shut the fuck up!" Trevor yells.

"You watch your language!" Rick yells, Judith babbling angrily at Trevor and startling him.

Daryl walked outside after Shadow and Banjo backed off, Daryl glaring at Trevor.

"Want to explain why you attacked that little lady, mister?!" Daryl asks.

"She fucked someone twice her age!" Trevor shouts.

"Don't know if you've got memory issues or something but anyone over 18 is considered an adult so you can't do jack shit to control her." Daryl says, angering Trevor.

"It's still damn- who are you?!" Trevor shouts, the last part at Amber.

"I'm the owner of the dogs that you just insulted." Amber says.

"Oh really?! Well speaking of bitches, Carly Jade, get your ass out here!" Trevor says, yelling the last part. Amber let out a loud and high pitched whistle, her dogs coming running.

"Really, you really want to pick a fight? Because I've just got to say a few magic words and you are dogs meat." Amber says, Shadow and Banjo growling and snarling.

Trevor left, Shadow and Banjo following Amber and Daryl into the RV and seeing Michonne handing two tablets of Tylenol to Carly to take the edge off.

"All I could find but it should help." Michonne says, Carly swallowing the meds as Amber walked over to them. "She won't admit it but she's hurting bad, Amber. We need to find a doctor." She says, Amber resting a hand on Carly's forehead and she could tell Carly had a fever.

"I was hiding for a while… it hurt to walk." Carly says, Judith babbling in concern at Carly.

"She'll be okay, kiddo. Rick, I'll drive, you look tired." Michonne says, heading to the driver's seat as Rick sat down near Carly with Judith in his lap.

"She's an adorable little girl. Sorry about Trevor scaring her." Carly says, Amber handing Carly a bottle of water after opening it and Carly drinking the water.

 **Mount Zonah E.R**

"Hey! We need your help, mister, there's a lady who's been stabbed!" Daryl says as he ran to Clint, who looked at him but before Clint could respond, Daryl dragged him outside to the RV as Amber helped Carly out to them.

"Oh, the others will be glad to know that you're okay tiny… well, mostly okay." Clint says, helping Carly into the E. R itself as Daryl and Amber followed them.

Pacing back and forth, Johnny looked up as Clint helped Carly over to him, the two hugging tightly before Carly was helped into the treatment room and Amber looked at Daryl.

"That poor girl is running a fever, isn't she? Could that wound be infected from the knife?" Daryl asks, both walking into the room and seeing Carly flinch slightly as the thermometer went into her right ear.

"How is she?" Amber asks, Clint looking at the thermometer after it beeped and seeing _101.5°_ looking back at him.

"Did any of you give her anything to reduce the fever? It might not have kicked in yet." Clint says, Johnny lightly rubbing a damp washcloth on Carly's forehead.

"Tylenol… Michonne gave it to her." Daryl says.

"There's a few of them… several adults, a teenager and an infant." Carly says before looking at Daryl and Amber. "Where are you all from?" She asks.

"We were hidden out in Georgia… but one of our own… he took off." Daryl says.

"Was he bit?" Johnny asks.

"We're not sure… he severed off an arm, replaced it with a bayonet." Amber says, Carly turning slightly pale.

Amber had just described Merle Dixon, who Carly had helped out two days ago when she found him bleeding badly… and now from the look on Amber's face, Merle was potentially a threat to everyone.


	2. Chapter 2

**A few hours later…**

The RV jerked to a stop in Chumash as a newly turned walker ran at Merle, Carly and Johnny running out after Carly grabbed Daryl's pickaxe and chopped a walker's head in two as Johnny shot a second one with his Sawn Off shotgun and Merle stabbed the last one through the neck with his bayonet.

"Saved my ass, violet." Merle says as he tried not to fall, Carly helping steady him.

"You okay?" Carly asks, Merle nodding.

But the second that everyone heard the metal door slam open and saw Trevor run out and to one of the dead, Carly recognised the three walkers as what were left of Ron, Chef and Wade… and Trevor turned angry.

"You bitch! First you let Johnny shove it in you and then you kill my friends?!" Trevor yells.

"Friends?! The second they turned into those things, they stopped being human, Trevor! I didn't want to kill them but what was I supposed to do, let them get to the others?! To your kids, your sister and hers and Packie's kids?! I'm sorry that Ron, Wade and Chef couldn't outrun them but I'm not sorry for protecting the ones I care about! Unlike you, it seems." Carly says, struggling to contain her anger.

"My god! You a bigger asshole than I thought you were!" Amber says.

Carly shoved past Trevor and stumbled into the house, Johnny following her and helping her sit down on the couch as Zero walked downstairs and ran to them.

"Z, could you head upstairs and make sure there's enough first aid supplies?" Johnny asks.

"Did that earlier. Carly, you look terrible, what happened?" Zero says.

"Just a disagreement that got out of hand." Carly says, Zero pulling Carly's tank top up halfway and seeing the patched up stab wound and knowing it was Trevor… but before she could yell, Rick walked in with Judith in his arms and Carl following them.

"Take her upstairs." Zero says, Rick doing so and Johnny picking Carly up in his arms and heading upstairs with her before setting her on their bed and pulling her boots, socks and clothes off.

Carly and Johnny kissed and Carly pulled herself up, pulling her bra and underwear off after walking into the bathroom. She cleaned her makeup off, carefully pulled the gauze off of the stitches and got into the shower, starting the water.

"Hey, how is she?" Ashley asks after walking upstairs and into the room.

"Hurting… fucking Trevor. Asshole went and stabbed her, then left her to die." Johnny says, muttering the last part.

"It's times like this I wish Brad was still alive." Ashley says.

"Be truthful, would Brad flip out at me over being with Carly?" Johnny asks.

Before Ashley could answer, they heard Trevor scream outside.

"Get this fucking mutt off my leg!" Trevor yells.

"Which one got him?" Sam asks, having been unable to tell Shadow apart from Banjo.

"Shadow, let go of him, who knows what he's got!" Amber says, Shadow growling at Trevor before taking his teeth out of Trevor's left leg and running to Amber.

After getting cleaned off, dried off and changed into some pajamas, Carly pulled her damp hair into a messy ponytail and stretched out next to Johnny as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Why didn't we just let Trevor get eaten up to begin with?" Carly mutters, her and Johnny kissing.

"Amber said that the next time that happens, she's not going to call them off." Johnny says.

"I can't blame her… the guy is fucked up in the head from all those years of huffing gasoline." Carly says as Johnny turned the Tv on and both heard Courage say "The things I do for love!" and Carly smiling slightly. "There are times I've said that catchphrase." She says as Amber walked upstairs with Shadow and Banjo.

"Shadow has quite a bit of blood on his teeth." Johnny says, Amber looking closely at Shadow's teeth.

"Took a chunk of flesh too." Amber says, Shadow whimpering. "It's okay, boy. I'm glad you taught him a lesson." She says, kissing Shadow on his head.

Shadow barked in response, Amber finding some toothpaste and a spare toothbrush and Shadow letting out a confused sound.

"Just open up boy, I promise this won't hurt." Amber says.

Shadow opened his mouth, Amber brushing the blood away and Shadow spitting into a bucket before jumping up on the bed and nuzzling Carly's hand, Carly petting Shadow. Banjo was the next to run in and jump up, lying at Carly's and Johnny's feet.

"Come here, boy." Johnny says, Banjo walking over and Johnny petting him as Shadow whimpered when he saw Carly's stitched up wound.

 **A half hour later…**

"Stop your grouching, Shadow bit you for a damn good reason!" Glenn says after quickly bandaging Trevor's leg. "Now off with you!" He says, Trevor refusing to leave.

"Why should _I_ leave?!" Trevor yells.

"You locked Merle out of the house to get eaten and if that wasn't bad enough, what did Carly ever do to you?!" Glenn says.

"Buddy, how about in the future, you keep your nose out of the business of people you don't know, hey?! You _and_ the group you came here with, if it were up to me, you'd all fucking leave this instant!" Trevor says.

Footsteps were heard and before Trevor or Glenn could see who it was, Carly kicked Trevor right in the jaw.

"They're staying! You can fuck off because you're not turning away a group that has a teenager and an infant with them!" Carly says angrily, Trevor rubbing his aching jaw. "I've had it with your bullshit, Trevor! If it weren't for what little self restraint I still have, you would've been dead long ago!" She says, once again slamming her left foot into Trevor's jaw and knocking him onto his back as blood gushed from his mouth and the skin below it.

Carly closed the door after she walked back into the house and Johnny grabbed the tweezers, helping Carly sit down and pulling Trevor's lateral incisor out of Carly's foot.

"I'll admit, that felt damn good to do that." Carly says as Johnny patched up her foot.

Outside, K8lynn was shocked at what was unfolding.

"What in the…" K8lynn tries to ask after getting out of her Sandking XL and helping Trevor up.

"He threatens to kick a group who has kids with them out of a safe place, he gets fucked up by someone half his size." Glenn says.

"This is all out of context!" Trevor says through his pain.

"How old are the kids?" K8lynn asks.

"Carl is 14 and Judith is only 10 months old." Glenn says, K8lynn glaring at Trevor.

"And did I forget to mention the savage dogs that one of the group members own?!" Trevor demands.

"Savage? Cause right now, one has climbed up in Carly's lap and is acting like a puppy." K8lynn says, her and Trevor seeing Banjo on Carly's lap as she petted him.

"They are savage! That black one tried to tear my leg off!" Trevor yells, pointing to Shadow.

"Only savage is you, stabbing Carly and leaving her for dead! So she got closer to the one she loves, so fucking what? People who are in love do that." Glenn says, Trevor turning angrier.

"They're not in love! Johnny just wants her so he's got something to shove it into!" Trevor yells.

"You're one to fucking talk! Compared to us, they actually do love each other! You just hate that he helped her when you weren't there to and you feel threatened because you no longer have that place in her heart that you used to! But you know what?! _You_ and you alone fucked that up by beating and stabbing Juana so badly that she ended up comatose and then you carelessly bragged about it when Carly was nearby!" K8lynn says, shouting halfway through.

K8lynn and Glenn walked back in after Glenn shoved Trevor into traffic, Carly leaning sleepily against Johnny and his left arm around her slim shoulders.

"Safe to come downstairs, Rick." Glenn says, Rick walking downstairs with Judith in his arms and the second Judith saw Carly, she reached out to her.

Carly tensed up slightly for a few seconds but calmed down when Judith rested her head on Carly's right shoulder as Amber walked downstairs.

"Haven't held a child before?" Amber asks.

"Not in a long time." Carly says, Judith babbling at her. Amber smiled a little but Carly could see a tiny bit of sadness in Amber's eyes.

' _Something must've happened to her in the past.'_ Carly thought… she also began to wonder where Judith's and Carl's mother was but Amber retrieved a picture of Lori from her pocket and handed it to Carly. "Did… did she die?" She asks.

"She put Judith's life before her own." Amber says.

Carly kissed Judith on her forehead, Amber seeing K8lynn blink tears away.

"You lost your mom too?" Amber asks.

"In childbirth… then my dad died about 2 years ago." K8lynn says.

"You don't… didn't have anyone else around after that except for…" Amber says, K8lynn nodding. "Did he save your life?" She asks.

"I was… I'm immune to something, I've never been able to figure it out… but it let me survive a lethal injection, Trevor was the only person I could go to… and him and Sam took me right in." K8lynn says.

"We all tried to find some way to get along… but…" Carly says, thinking back.

 **Yesterday night…**

Carly bolted up out of her sleep and pulled the bed sheet around her as Trevor barged in and saw the blood dried into the white sheets.

"Now I'm only gonna say this once… don't act without-" Carly says, cut off by Trevor grabbing her by her throat and yanking her out of the bed, Carly letting out a strangled scream as Trevor repeatedly slammed her against the wall.

Carly raked her nails across Trevor's eyes as Trevor screamed in rage at Merle and K8lynn pulling him off of Carly and Johnny taking his jacket off and putting it on her.

"What happened to trying to accept it?! Those things are out there killing people and you pull this?!" K8lynn yells.

"That's Trevor fuckin Philips for you, it's all... about his sick need for control, never once does what someone else want cross his damaged mind!" Carly manages to say as Johnny helped her up.

"First aftermath was similar in some ways… but it was the guy that my dad dragged out and kicked out, he didn't slam me against the wall repeatedly!" K8lynn says.

"She let him shove it in her like the little whore she is!" Trevor shouts, Merle dragging him outside as Carly held Johnny's leather jacket close to her tiny frame to cover it.

If Trevor wasn't dealt with soon, things would only get crazier.


	3. Chapter 3

**Present time, De Santa house…**

"What did you expect them to do?! Jackson and Annie are with them and from what you described, so are two other kids, you expect Carly to just not kill zombies who used to be your friends?!" Michael says angrily after Trevor walked in and told him what happened, Trevor throwing the beer bottle at the wall and narrowly missing Michael's head.

"I didn't expect her to kill my friends!" Trevor yells.

"They were newly turned walkers, you selfish prick! Did you expect the group to get eaten and turn?! There are fucking zombies roaming around yet your priority is still to try to split Carly and Johnny up! Their relationship doesn't affect you in the slightest, it's their life and they love each other!" Michael shouts, further angering Trevor.

"Oh like you know what love is with how you and Amanda constantly fought?! All you cared about was fucking her, did you even want the kids?!" Trevor yells.

"You clearly didn't want your kids! You tried to kill some of them, had Sam and Rey's mother killed but that wasn't the first time you've crossed the line, it's a damn miracle Juana survived!" Michael shouts, getting louder halfway through. "At least I protected my kids, helped them out while they were growing up! You only see kids as mistakes!" He says.

"If I saw kids as mistakes why did I keep Ashley?!" Trevor yells.

"You didn't want Brad, her real father, to have her!" Michael says.

"He would have raised her the wrong way!" Trevor yells.

"No, he would've kept her safe and not have run out on her!" Both heard, looked and saw Clint.

"I had no choice! I had to keep her safe!" Trevor yells.

"Brad wasn't the problem, you're the fucking problem! You better tell Ashley because if she finds out from someone else…" Clint shouts.

 **At the same time, safehouse in Chumash…**

"You're not gonna believe what I just found. It was left in his room." Carly says, Ashley taking the folded up paper from Carly and unfolding it, her eyes widening in shock when she saw it was what she tried to find from the Vanilla Unicorn… the DNA test results.

Ashley saw the look in Carly's eyes… Carly wasn't sure how Ashley was going to react.

"Ash?" Carly says after a few seconds, Ashley setting the paper down.

"I'm so fucking going to kill him!" Ashley yells.

Carly was about to respond when Judith's terrified cries made her run to the room in the hallway and pick Judith up in her arms, Ashley following her and seeing her comfort Judith.

"It's okay, baby girl, it's okay." Carly says softly, Ashley feeling that Carly was developing a maternal bond with Judith.

"I'm sorry Judith, I didn't mean to yell." Ashley says.

Judith babbled at Ashley in worry, Ashley kissing her on her forehead as Rick ran in with Johnny and Amber following behind.

"No trouble with any more walkers?" Carly asks.

"All clear… what happened to your foot?!" Rick says, seeing Carly's bandaged foot.

"Kicked Trevor twice in the jaw and one of his teeth got lodged in my foot." Carly says, Ashley hissing in sympathy. Carly took Judith into the kitchen to find the infant something to eat when the door opened and Jackson and Annie walked in with their parents and Indie following behind.

"Dogs!" Jackson says.

"Easy, Jackson. Shadow, Banjo, don't jump on them." Carly says, Shadow and Banjo looking at her with sad eyes but Amber agreed with Carly trying to keep Jackson and Annie from getting hurt.

"They're great with kids. I used to watch a four year old a lot and she used play with them. They were gentle with her." Amber says.

"Auntie Carly can be protective." Jackson says, laughing as Shadow licked him and Annie petting Banjo.

"Trust me Carly they can pull on their tails, ears the whole deal, they wouldn't hurt them." Amber says.

Carly nodded but the memories of the neighbor's pit bull biting her when she was 9 made her nervous.

Later when Carly was outside at the beach, she thought she heard Trevor yelling and jumped up, pulling out her SNS Pistol and aiming it… only to see that the man looked and sounded like Trevor.

"I'm so sorry. You just… resemble someone who's hurt me." Carly says, putting her pistol away.

"That's a nice gun." The man says.

"Yeah… why are you…" Carly says, turning rattled when she saw the creepy look in the man's eyes and turned to leave, the man grabbing her by her hair and pressing a knife to her throat as another man approached.

"Look at the pretty little thing I found, Negan!" The first man says.

"Ain't she a pretty thing." Negan says.

"Look… you guys are making a serious-" Carly says, Negan grabbing her by her jaw.

"Hey assholes! Get your hands off her or the dogs are gonna have a nice big meal!" Amber yells.

"Simon, I think we should take tiny here and-" Negan says, cut off by Carly kicking him below the belt and slamming her fist up into his face before punching Simon.

Simon stumbled back after Carly gripped the knife and her pistol, Simon screaming as a bullet lodged into his arm.

"You want some of this, fucker?!" Carly yelled, aiming the gun at Negan as he helped Simon up.

"She… she shot me!" Simon says in shock.

Negan and Simon left, deciding to handle this later and Amber turned to Carly, who still gripped both weapons tightly in her freaked out state of mind.

"Carly, it's okay." Amber says.

Carly switched the safety on and put her gun away, putting the knife away as well before following Amber back to the safehouse.

"Being grabbed by the throat… made me think back to when Trevor grabbed me and tried to break my spine." Carly says, keeping her navy robe tied closed.

"Let's just hope those assholes don't come back." Amber says.

"Yeah…" Carly says.

 **A while later…**

"How does someone so damn small outsmart us like that?!" Simon yells after Negan dug the bullet out and stitched Simon up.

"I don't know but I'm going to either claim her or the other girl that was with her." Negan says.

"Haven't you been married enough times?" Simon says, Negan chuckling lowly.

"I get lonely, Simon… I ain't talking marriage but what would be wrong in having a beautiful girl to hold at the end of the day?" Negan says.

"Well I would be careful about which you claim. One has a gun, the other a spiked bat and two savage mutts." Simon says.

Negan nodded and headed outside to get some fresh air. He had just barely walked outside when he saw Trevor being tossed out of a house.

"And stay gone, you crazy ass fool!" Franklin yells before slamming the door, Negan walking over and pulling Trevor up.

"You look like hell." Negan says.

"I got kicked out of two… well, three houses today. And it all started with a traitorous bitch." Trevor says, Negan turning curious.

"What traitorous bitch?" Negan asks.

"My estranged goddaughter. Small thing, long brown hair and blue eyes with hints of violet in them." Trevor says.

"She shot one of my men before." Negan says.

"She's trigger happy… Carly Jade gets that from her dad. But I'm curious as to what your friend did though." Trevor says.

"We just wanted to take her and she shot him." Negan says.

"Take her?! For…" Trevor says, closing his eyes for a split second. "I'm not crazy about who she's with, he's twice her age but you want her?! You were gonna kidnap a 19 year old girl and force her to be yours, are you fucking insane?!" He yells, startling Negan.

"You just said she betrayed you-" Negan says, Trevor punching him in the throat and Negan falling to the ground, coughing. "Alright, alright I'll take the other one not her!" He says.

"Other one?" Trevor asks.

"5'4", black hair, spiked bat. She had two dogs one black and the other brown and white." Negan says.

Negan stood back up as Simon ran to him.

"I'm okay… come on." Negan says, the two heading to their safehouse.

"What the hell was that guy's problem?!" Simon asks after closing the door.

"I'll tell you later." Negan says.

 **Chumash safehouse, A few hours later…**

Johnny rolled over towards Carly and wrapped his arm around her waist, Carly unable to stay asleep and having told him what happened earlier. It took every bit of restraint for Johnny to stay and not track Negan and Simon down but he was worried about Carly.

"You're worried they'll come back…" Johnny says, Carly nodding as she carefully turned over and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his left shoulder as Shadow lifted his head up and barked towards the window after hearing pebbles being thrown at it.

Johnny stood up and walked towards the window, seeing Trevor outside as Shadow growled, knowing Trevor's scent and Trevor turning angry when Shadow growled.

"What do you want now?!" Merle asks angrily after walking outside, closing the door.

"I wanted to warn you guys about something." Trevor says.

"The two that attacked and tried to take Carly earlier, we have that handled!" Merle says.

"Look one of them wants to either Amber or Carly." Trevor says. "And at this rate he's will more likely take Amber." He says.

"No one takes any of our group… and why would you care after you attacked Carly?!" Merle says.

"Trust me, they will take one of them." Trevor says.

"Oddly enough, I believe it but I also want you to leave before your craziness overwhelms you and you try to snap Carly's spine or stab her again." Merle says, closing the door after Trevor left.

"What's all the noise about?" Michonne asks sleepily after walking downstairs.

"Trevor showed up, warning us about the men that attacked Carly before." Merle says.

"Damn, you think they'll try again?" Michonne asks, Merle going to check on Carly.

"She's having trouble sleeping." Johnny says, Merle walking over and resting his hand on Carly's back as she looked up at him.

"Trevor leave?" Carly asks.

"Yes he left." Merle says.

Carly nodded and reached out, her and Merle hugging carefully before he left… Carly finally let sleep overtake her and felt Johnny's arms wrap around her.

In another room, Daryl opened his eyes seeing Amber was sitting over the edge of the bed, sharpening her hunting knife.

"Uh… Amber girl, isn't it a bit late at night to be doing that?" Daryl asks.

"I couldn't sleep and I need to be ready for when those assholes come back." Amber says.

"That attack on Carly really set you off… are you already thinking of her as family?" Daryl says, Amber setting the knife and sharpening stone down and lying down in the queen sized bed.

"I overheard what Trevor said to Merle before. One of them wants me or Carly and he doesn't care which one he gets." Amber says.

"They come back, we're ready. No one will hurt either of you." Daryl says, Amber rolling over and pressing herself against him as they wrapped their arms around each other. "I'm not going to lose you, ever." He says.

"I hope not. We're already been through enough." Amber says, Daryl lightly kissing Amber's forehead. Amber smiled a little before the two kiss.

"I love you so much." Amber says.

"I love you more." Daryl says.

And with that, the two fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

" _Shh… now now, they're all dealt with… and I have you all to myself, little thing." Negan says in his usual rough voice after chaining Carly's wrists and legs to the bed despite Carly's struggling._

 _She was still incredibly sore from being with Johnny and had an instinctive feeling that Negan wouldn't be gentle in the slightest._

 _Carly fought back as best as she could and screamed as Negan, who was already in a pair of boxers, had stripped Carly's underwear off… but it was as Negan was about to continue on with what he had in mind that he let out an ear splitting scream as his head was split in half with an axe and the blood sprayed all over Carly, who blacked out from the trauma Negan nearly inflicted on her…_

Carly's eyes snapped open as she screamed, curling up against Johnny as he held her in his arms and comforted her as Zero ran in, armed with a shotgun.

"Is she alright?" Zero asks.

"Night terrors." Johnny says, Zero walking over to Carly and trying to touch her but Carly let out a startled yelp, Zero lightly rubbing Carly's right arm.

"Carly it's okay. It's me Z." Zero says.

Carly looked up after turning to face Zero, Zero seeing that Carly hadn't slept much lately.

"Everyone else okay?" Carly asks.

"Yeah, they're still sleeping." Zero says.

Carly nodded, Zero lightly hugging her before heading back towards her and Angus's room.

"Was that Carly screaming?" Angus asks as Zero walks in and closes the door, Angus sleepily rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah... she was in a night terror." Zero says, lying down on the bed.

"Poor kid… it doesn't help that Trevor's gone batshit again but now those two creeps show up and try to…" Angus says, Zero wrapping her arms around him.

When everyone was awake the next day, Rick walked into the backyard and sat down next to Carly, who was on the patio swing.

"I'm sorry if I woke Judith up." Carly says.

"It's okay, she slept through it." Rick says.

"I worry though… from what my dad said, my mom wasn't too patient with me when I was Judith's age." Carly says, Rick noticing the scar on the back of Carly's neck.

"Did she-" Rick tries to ask.

"That was a home invader 8 years ago." Carly says as Amber walked over to them, Daryl and Johnny following her and Shadow and Banjo following them.

"Hey guys." Amber says.

"Hey-" Carly says, letting out a startled yelp but laughing when Shadow jumped up and licked her. "Easy boy!" She says, Amber lightly pulling Shadow off of Carly.

"Now that's enough of that Shadow." Amber says.

"Sweet little dog." Carly says, scratching Shadow's ears. "Where did you find them, Amber?" She asks, Amber thinking back.

 **3 years ago, Amber's P.O.V**

Running to where the scared whimpers were echoing from, I crouched down and pulled the newspapers away… my eyes widening in shock when I found what looked like a 5 week old puppy.

"Aw, you poor thing. Come here." I say softly as I pick him up in my arms like a child, the little pup licking my face.

"Amber, what you got there?" I hear, look and see Michonne. "Aw, he's so cute." Michonne says, smiling.

"I'm going to keep him, he'll make great company for Shadow." I say.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go get him cleaned off and fed, poor little thing looks so thin." Michonne says, both of us heading back to the campsite and into mine and Daryl's home.

"Amber, is that you?" Daryl asks from the kitchen.

"No it's the Ghost of Christmas Past." I say, Shadow running into the room and starting to growl at the pup.

"Shadow, be nice!" Daryl says as he walked over to us and saw the pup, heading to the bathroom and returning with the small metal tub we used for Shadow when he was smaller, Shadow whining slightly.

"It's okay Shadow, you're still my boy." I say.

After cleaning the puppy and feeding him, I looked at his tan fur… tan, almost like a banjo…

That's it, that can be his name!

"How about we call you Banjo? You like that?" I ask, the pup barking in approval. "Banjo it is." I say, petting Banjo.

 **Present time…**

"I know it's you, Tommy." Carly says after Tommy covered her eyes with his hands.

"Um… who is this Tommy?" Tommy asks in a deep voice.

"Very funny. Lexi, your boyfriend's-" Carly says, Tommy covering her mouth with his right hand.

"Shh, Anton still doesn't know about that now." Tommy says.

"Get your hand off of my mouth!" Carly growled, startling Tommy and Tommy let go of her and sat down next to her. "Sorry… I just… when you touched my mouth, I thought back to…" She says.

"It's okay. It's partly my fault." Tommy says.

"No, I was the one stupid enough to wander from the group… I just wanted some time to clear my head, think about what could happen if… if we don't stop all these walkers, Tommy." Carly says.

"And you had every right to want to clear your head." Tommy says. "We all need some time to ourselves once in a while, tiny." He says.

"Yeah… I have thought of some things though. Somewhere down the line in a few years, I want to have kids with Johnny… I want a family." Carly says, Tommy smiling.

But then Tommy noticed a small camera under the table umbrella… and stood up, looking into the lens.

"Trevor, you fucking creep!" Tommy yells.

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on all of you!" Trevor says through the microphone in the camera.

"Yeah how are you going to keep an eye on us when I do this?!" Tommy demands before smashing the camera.

"Knowing him, there's cameras in every place possible in this house." Carly says.

"I'll go and suss it out." Tommy says.

Tommy looked around every room and reached Carly and Johnny's, finding the tiny camera and throwing it down, stomping on it as Amber walked in.

"Was he spying on them?!" Amber asks.

"Yes he was." Tommy says.

"Okay this is now getting ridiculous!" Amber says.

"You going to go and kill him?" Tommy asks.

"Fuck yeah." Amber says before grabbing two chains and walking outside and clipping Shadow and Banjo to them.

Trevor was walking around and ended up at Lamar's house, Lamar reluctantly letting him in.

"If you're bit, your ass is getting shot!" Lamar says after closing the door, revealing the AP Pistol.

"They smashed those fucking cameras!" Trevor shouts.

"So you knew about Carly and Johnny fucking before you kicked their door in?! What kind of sick fuck are you, watching them?!" Lamar asks angrily. Before Trevor could answer Lamar's door was kicked down and Amber came storming in.

"You think it's okay to spy on people?!" Amber demands.

"How the fuck did you find me?!" Trevor yells.

"My dogs." Amber says, Shadow and Banjo snarling and growling.

"What is it with these-" Trevor starts to shout, screaming when Shadow bit him again.

"Are they… normally like that?" Lamar asks, Banjo rubbing up against him and Lamar petting Banjo. "Hiya, boy." He says.

"Yeah they're fairly good well unless you are someone like Trevor. Speak of Trevor any last words?" Amber says.

"Is it wrong to want to keep an eye on my family-" Trevor shouts, Shadow letting out a pain filled whimper and letting go of Trevor as Amber noticed that half of one of Shadow's teeth was broken off.

"Come here, boy." Amber says, Shadow walking over to her and resting a paw on her leg as a way of saying _"Mama, my tooth hurts!"_.

"Well there is phoning them and saying _"Hey, how are you?"_ and then there's spying on them like a fucking perv!" Amber says. "So any last famous words before you're killed?" She asks menacingly.

"Yeah… kill me and those creeps get an easy shot towards one of you!" Trevor says, grabbing the pistol and Lamar before holding him at gunpoint, Banjo and Shadow barking loudly.

"Trust my words Trevor." Amber says before raising her crossbow. "I'm a perfect shooter. I'll have you down on the ground before you can pull that trigger." She growls.

Trevor turned around and was immediately whacked upside the head with a rolling pin by Carly.

"Ow! What did I do?!" Trevor yells after letting go of Lamar, Carly whacking Trevor again and knocking him out cold.

"Damn, I've always wanted to do that." Carly says, examining Shadow's broken tooth. "Aw, poor guy… Amber, here. Call Clint." She says, handing her phone to Amber and Amber dialing Clint's number.

"Hey." Amber says.

"Everyone alright, Amber?" Clint asks.

"What do you know about dog's teeth?" Amber asks.

"Uh oh, which one broke a tooth?" Clint asks.

"Shadow did." Amber says.

Carly glanced at the unconscious Trevor as she helped Lamar tie him up.

' _Trevor's gone and done it now… let's see if K8lynn sides with him after this.'_ Carly thought.


	5. Chapter 5

"There you are. Find the place okay?" Lamar says after opening the door and letting K8lynn in, K8lynn seeing Clint and Amber patching up Shadow.

"Aw, poor boy. What happened?" K8lynn says, running over and crouching down to Shadow.

"His tooth broke off in half after Trevor… well, you can figure out the rest." Amber says as K8lynn saw Trevor tied up and Carly clutching the rolling pin.

"Carly-" K8lynn starts to say.

"Before you start defending his crazy ass, how would you like it if someone put a camera in your room and watched you two going at it?!" Carly says, slamming the rolling pin into Trevor's head and waking him up. "Go on, tell her just how much of a fucking creep you are!" She growls, K8lynn telling from the tone of Carly's voice that Carly felt violated by someone she once considered family.

"I was keeping an eye on you!" Trevor yells.

"Okay there's a line between keeping an eye on someone and been a fucking creep!" Amber says.

"You stay out of this!" Trevor yells, Amber standing up and walking forward before grabbing her bat.

"Amber don't!" Carly yells as Amber swung the bat, the spikes narrowly missing Trevor's head.

"That was a warning shot. Next time Spiky will not feel the need to miss." Amber says, holding the spiked near Trevor's face. "Do I make myself loud and clear?" She asks.

"You were fucking going to kill me!" Trevor yells.

"Sue me! I dare you to!" Amber yells.

"Trevor, you weren't keeping an eye on Carly… you basically victimized her, why the fuck would you put a camera in her room if you were really just keeping an eye on her?!" K8lynn says.

"Because she was shutting me out of her life!" Trevor yells.

"Who can blame her?" Amber mutters.

"Things were destroyed a fucking long time ago, back before the Ludendorff bank job." Carly says, Trevor giving her a warning look. "What are you gonna do, you're tied up." She says before turning to Amber and Lamar. "Back in 1998, Trevor decided to hook up with someone who had been drugged and when he found out that Juana ended up pregnant, he wanted the child gone when she wanted him to stand up and be a dad… he fucked off, only to return in 2001 and blow up Juana's car while she was driving. It didn't stop there, he savagely attacked her and she ended up in a medically induced coma. All because she put her daughter first. And when Trevor bragged about it in 2002, he realised I had heard him and nearly snapped my left arm off when I tried to call 911… that's the kind of man who says he's trying to protect me, keeping an eye on me… a man who's nowhere near fit to be near kids." She says.

"And now he's going to die!" Amber growls.

As Carly tried to stop K8lynn from intervening, the lights went out… and something heavy collided with all six heads before they all lost consciousness.

 **Carly's P.O.V**

"Tiny? Come on, tiny, wake up now." I hear Clint say and rub the back of my head as I open my eyes halfway.

"My fucking head." I mutter… before I notice that Trevor's not around, the chair he was tied to vacant and the ropes torn. "Did you see who took him?" I ask.

"Carly they got him and Amber." Clint says.

They… oh, damn it!

"Negan… son of a bitch!" I say, yelling the last part as K8lynn and Lamar pull me up to my feet. "Shadow, Banjo, come here boys!" I call out, the dogs running to me and whining slightly as I dial the house number, Johnny picking up.

"Carly are you okay darlin?" Johnny asks.

"Put Daryl on the phone…" I say, Johnny handing the phone to Daryl. "They took her, Daryl." I say, Daryl turning angry.

"What?!" Daryl yells.

"Negan's crew… I'm gonna get Shadow and Banjo to track Amber's scent, get the others and as many weapons as you can." I say, letting out a small cringe as I knew that from Clint pressing a towel to my side that my stitches ripped open.

Daryl and I hang up and Clint restitched my wound before Lamar and I left with Shadow and Banjo, Lamar handing a necklace to me.

"Amber's…" I say, putting it in front of Shadow's nose and him and Banjo sniffing it before they bark crazily, leading us out of the area.

 **Trevor's P.O.V, Warehouse in South LS…**

"What I've gone and done?! You had us all distracted on your crazy ass and those creeps attacked!" Amber yells as we're tied back to back in wooden chairs before pulling hard backwards on the ropes.

"Ow! What was that for?!" I yell as the rope hit what I'm sure is a cracked rib.

"You know what the fuck that was for!" Amber snaps.

"Well, you two ain't playing well with each other." We hear, look and seeing Simon walk into the room.

"This guy could be your fucking twin!" Amber mutters. "Hey tell me something mister are you related to him?" She asks.

"I wish, this guy here… tried to escape a few hours ago, you've been been out a long time, tiny lady. He fucking went crazy and injured most of the group… some of them might not recover." Simon says, grabbing me by the shirt. "So tell me Trevor. Other than rampages and spying on your estranged niece, what else gets you off?" He says.

"Hey! If you're gonna kill him, just get on with the show!" Amber yells.

Simon turned in the opposite direction, away from me… and a resounding thud echoed, Simon falling to the ground with nails embedded into his head.

"What party did I miss?" Carly asks with some sarcasm as she unties Amber.

"Let me guess. You found me by the dogs?" Amber says.

"Yeah. You dropped this." Carly says, handing Amber a silver chain that had a guitar charm on it before reluctantly untying me… and then slamming Spiky into my head!

"Allow me to take care of the rest." Amber says.

"Haven't I've been whacked enough times upside the head or did Ivory doing it to you make you lose the part of your memory where it's wrong to inflict pain on others?!" I shout as Amber carefully took her bat… and backed away as she saw the rage in Carly's eyes.

"Look at you, taking that like a champion." Amber says... before swinging the bat behind her and slamming into the top of my head.

Before I could respond, Carly slammed me against the wall and grabbed me by my throat, repeatedly slamming me into the wall…

The last thing I hear is footsteps before losing consciousness.

 **Normal P.O.V**

"Wait, where's T? And why is she so quiet?" Daryl asks as Carly and Amber got into the RV, Shadow and Banjo greeting Amber with kisses as Carly and Johnny hugged each other lovingly.

"Left him there." Carly mutters as Daryl and Amber hugged and kissed.

"Did I hear that right?" Daryl asks as Rick drove away from the chaotic area, Amber looking back at the warehouse.

At Mount Zonah, Carly and Amber were checked out in the E.R and Amber noticed the rage that still lingered in Carly. Curious, she asked about who Ivory is.

"Ivory… he was someone who was similar to Trevor in a lot of ways. Worse than Trevor at times, the reason Ivory whacked me in the head with the crowbar among the other things he did… he wanted me to show him pain." Carly says, Amber lightly rubbing her hand up and down Carly's back. "I still don't have some of my long term memory… when I first met Sam, she turned out to be the daughter of a friend that my dad adored like a sister but I couldn't remember what she looked like at first. Claire was… about 17 when she ran away, escaping her abusive father… she fell into prostitution and from what I've seen, it's a hellish life but… Claire never lost her kind heart and soul to it. She did the best she could at raising her daughters." She says, Amber a bit curious at the last part. "Yeah… Sam has a twin sister. Both are Trevor's daughters. Trevor also ran out on two other kids, Ezra and Indie as well as tried to kill another son, Kyle, and abandoned a baby daughter in the dunes after her mother died." She says.

"And I thought my family was fucked up." Amber mutters.

"There's no chance… that Trevor could be your biological father, right?" Carly says, Amber not remembering what her father looked or sounded like because she was too young when he left.

"Oh god no! For one I got my amazing black hair from my father, two I meant to have a similar personality to him, well my crazy side." Amber says.

"Just… wondering, that's all. Who knows how many kids Trevor has out there." Carly says, Amber chuckling slightly.

Amber looked up as Michael ran into the room with Johnny following him, Michael and Carly hugging and Michael looking at Amber.

"Did you two leave him for dead?" Michael asks.

"Yep we sure did." Amber says. "Maybe I should go back and finish the job." She says

"Please be careful." Carly says.

"I'll be." Amber says, lightly rubbing Carly's right shoulder before walking out of the room.

But Amber decided to go check on Daryl instead.

Still, she was also curious about something… she had tried to brush it off but noticed some similarities between herself and Michael.

And she had begun to wonder if Carly could possibly be her half sister.


	6. Chapter 6

"Wait, you think that either Michael or Negan could be your father? Amber, has your mom or any of your family explained who your father is?" Daryl asks after Amber explained her idea to him.

"All they explained was that he ditched us for some hooker who was running from something, most likely an abusive pimp… anything's really possible though, right?" Amber says.

"Best chance of finding out is through DNA testing. But where are we gonna find Negan? He wasn't at the warehouse." Daryl says.

Carly changed into the clothes Johnny brought to her before sneaking out of the E.R, seeing a text from Lester on her phone.

' _3680 Whispymound Drive.'_

Reaching the house by herself, Carly started banging on the door until it opened.

"Tiny lady, what a welcome visit." Negan says in a warm tone that Carly instantly knew was false and hid malice.

"The same cannot be said from me, this isn't just a drop by." Carly says, Negan seeing a cylinder shaped container in Carly's right hand that had a cotton swab in it.

"Doin some searching, tiny?" Negan asks as Carly opened the tube and held the cotton swab in her left hand.

"Open your mouth." Carly says.

"What the hell for?" Negan asks.

"Negan… I'm not gonna bargin with you. It's for DNA testing and you're gonna open that damned mouth or I'm gonna force it open after tying you down." Carly says, Negan taken aback by her firm tone.

"Has this got to do with a woman named Amber Mead?" Negan asks.

"Right on the money… you could possibly be her dad and there's the same chance she could be my half sister." Carly says, Negan sitting down and opening his mouth. Once Carly got the sample, she put the swab in the tube and closed it, turning to leave but Negan grabbed her right arm. Unlike last time, his grip was gentler.

"If she's mine, I'll be taking her." Negan says.

"Oh, how little control you actually have… Amber is a grown woman looking for peace of mind, not someone to play daddy to her. Now let go of me." Carly says, Negan smirking and lightly stroking Carly's wrist with his thumb.

"You owe me, little rabbit." Negan says, caught off guard by Carly yanking her wrist away and levelling a hard slap across his face. "Now that ain't what I meant." He says.

"You're a fucking sociopathic creep… if Amber is yours, she was spared from turning out like you." Carly says before leaving.

Carly returned to Mount Zonah and handed the tube to Clint, who saw the red mark on her right hand.

"He hurt you?" Clint asks.

"I slapped him right in the face after he said that I owe him." Carly says, Clint chuckling.

"Good one tiny." Clint says. "Let's just hope that Amber turns out to be your half sister and not Negan's daughter." He says.

"Negan needs to be put in the ground… and what do you want?!" Carly says, seeing Trevor limp over to them.

"Well I've heard chatter of Amber being Michael's daughter or Negan's." Trevor says.

"Still looking for a replacement niece?" Carly asks sarcastically.

"I'm not having her as a niece! She smashed her spiked bat into my head, I hope she's Negan's!" Trevor says.

"Oh so you think she'd turn into a killing machine like you tried to turn Sam into?!" Carly asks angrily.

"She is a killing machine, like Negan! Like father, like daughter!" Trevor shouts.

"Alright, break it up, both of you. And Trevor…" Clint says, grabbing a cotton swab.

"Ruling out all possibilities?!" Trevor yells.

"Gonna cooperate?" Clint asks, Trevor opening his mouth. Clint took the sample and sent all three to the lab.

"Why me?!" Trevor says.

"You've got who knows how many kids out there, except for Ashley, who knows that she's not yours!" Carly says, angering Trevor.

"I don't even know Amber's mom! Plus the father stuck around for a year before fucking off!" Trevor yells.

"Much like you did with Indie before you murdered her mom and then turned into a deadbeat dad." Carly says, Trevor's eyes turning wild and maddened.

"Well at least I didn't kill my own mother!" Trevor yells.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Amber yells before crash tacking Trevor to the ground. "She was a walker, I had to do it! I didn't have a choice!" She screamed in rage.

Johnny ran over to them, him and Carly pulling Amber off of Trevor and Carly grunting a bit as the heels of Amber's feet collided with her shins.

"Daryl, where are you, you son of a bitch?!" Carly yells in pain before Daryl ran to them and held Amber close to him.

"Hey, hey! Calm down." Daryl says, as Amber tried to fight her way out of his grip.

Johnny helped Carly sit down, Carly rubbing her already bruising legs as Trevor tried to leave… only to run into Merle.

"Goin' somewhere?" Merle asks.

"That little bitch that's fucking your brother just tackled me to the floor!" Trevor yells.

"Damn, good for her. After how you've been acting, you deserve it." Merle says with a slight laugh.

"I just told her a bit of truth about her killing her mom and she attacked me." Trevor says.

"She had no choice, much like Carly, Johnny and I had no choice in killing your friends. What were we supposed to do, get our asses bit and turn into those fucked up monsters?!" Merle says.

Waiting patiently, Amber looked up and saw Clint walk over with the DNA results and saw that she was Michael's daughter.

"I tested it against Negan's and Trevor's as well… no match." Clint says.

"And this is 100% finality, no error?" Amber asks.

"100%. You're Michael's child." Clint says, Amber smiling in relief.

When everyone was back at the house, Michael and Amber decided to talk.

"I… it's crossed my mind before that I could have kids out there I didn't know about, I was a pimp at one point in my life and one of the girls who worked for me… you remind me of her." Michael says.

"Yeah well I'm just grateful that's it's you and not the other two." Amber says. "Just don't expect me to be calling you father anytime soon." She says.

"I at least hope we can try to start to get along though… and Carly's not my only child, you have two other half siblings." Michael says, showing Amber a picture of Tracey and Jimmy and Amber laughing slightly at what seemed like Tracey's first attempt to dye her hair.

"Why would she dye her hair?" Amber asks.

"She originally tried to dye it light brown like Carly's but it didn't work, the dye turned her dark hair coppery." Michael says.

"She kind of looks like a wannabe porn star." Amber says.

"That's another thing she's tried." Michael says, showing Amber a picture of a younger Carly, Amber noticing that it was before she got her scars.

"And Jimmy looks like a stone head that does nothing all day." Amber says.

"That about sums him up." Michael says.

"So you have a redneck bastard daughter, a wanna porn star daughter and a stoner son. The only one of your kids that's decent is Carly." Amber says.

"Amber, Carly isn't the only child of mine that's normal, you are as well." Michael says.

"Bullshit. I'm only half related to your family." Amber says.

"And I'm not exactly normal… I'm far from being innocent." Both heard, Amber looking and seeing Carly.

"You are innocent compared to the rest of the family." Amber says.

"In comparison, yeah…" All three heard, looked and saw Trevor being dragged into the house by Merle.

"We don't want him here." Amber says.

"I left crazy guy here with a snapped arm and leg and he still managed to get up and follow me. Any place to throw him off of?" Merle says.

"Just get him out of here." Carly says.

"And how about we find a pit of walkers and toss him into it?" Amber says before walking off.

Merle dragged Trevor away and closed the door, Michael walking towards Carly as she walked out to the patio.

"It'll take time before Amber and I get along." Michael says, Carly looking at him.

"Why didn't you explain that part of your life before, Dad?" Carly asks.

"I just didn't know how to." Michael says.

"No one ever really knows how to explain that to their kids." Carly says, feeling a small hand tug at her shirt and looked down, seeing Judith standing up. "Hi, sweetheart." She says, picking Judith up in her arms and Judith lightly pinching Michael's nose.

"Hey kiddo." Michael says.

Judith babbled at him, Rick running to them.

"I don't even know how she climbed out of her crib, I just turned away for a second." Rick says.

"When they start getting around that's when your eyes need to be on them 24/7." Michael says.

Those words made Carly think of what she still wanted… and it was at that moment that Judith rested her head on Carly's left shoulder and spoke to her.

"Mama." Judith says, Carly in slight shock as were Rick and Michael.

But Carly cradled Judith close to her and felt herself calming down as Judith closed her eyes, Carly kissing Judith's forehead.

' _She'll be a damn good mom.'_ Rick thought, interpreting that that was what Judith meant when she called Carly "Mama.".


	7. Chapter 7

**A day and a half later…**

Stumbling into the safehouse with Johnny's arm steadying her, Carly dropped the bloodstained axe and nearly collapsed onto the floor, Amber and Rick running to both of them.

"The hell happened?" Amber asks, her and Rick helping Carly and Johnny sit down.

"Negan… we won't have to worry about him anymore. Remember when I said Johnny, Merle and I… went to explain it to him? He went…" Carly says, Daryl and Michonne helping Merle in.

"Damn… Carly, what did Negan do to you?" Glenn asks after he and Maggie walked downstairs…

 **Saviors safehouse, a day earlier…**

"I can break you… I know about little Judith and the kids. Now these results… are bullshit, kid. Where are the real ones?!" Negan growled after crumpling the paper up and tossing it, slowly losing it. He had been torturing Carly for the past day and it hadn't yielded anything but sarcastic remarks and snarkiness from her.

And now there was that tiny shred of regret for keeping her and the others captive… he had heard nothing from the saviors and when he checked on them, he had found them all cold and dead, some eaten by walkers and others killed by gunshots to the heads or necks.

"Leave the kids out of it. I ain't telling you any lies you'll-" Carly says, grunting as Negan slammed the bat he named Lucille right into Carly's ribcage. "Are you torturing me or is this just fucked up foreplay?" She asks tauntingly after looking up at Negan… but it pissed him off worse.

"You switched the test results… trying to protect her." Negan says.

"She's… Amber's more than a friend, she's my sister. You are nothing but a lonely sociopathic fuck who just wants to take her and turn her into a killing machine." Carly says, Negan grabbing her up by her hair after cutting her restraints.

"She's mine! I know she is!" Negan yells.

Carly kicked her right foot up between Negan's legs and forced him to fall before she pinned him down and grabbed the machete Rick gave her, stabbing Negan repeatedly as her rage and his pain filled screams echoed through the warehouse.

Negan was barely able to shove Carly off of him and pull himself up, charging at her… but that was as Carly had grabbed Lucille and a sickening crack echoed as she smashed the bat against Negan's skull, Negan turning angrier when he saw that Lucille was broken in half.

"You fucking bitch!" Negan yells, Carly looking at him.

"Maybe I am a bitch… or maybe..." Carly says, picking up a silver and red axe. "Maybe you're out of options, Negan." She says, driving the axe into Negan's spine repeatedly.

When Johnny and Merle finally found the room, they were shocked at what was there… Negan laid on the ground with blood all around him and Carly gripped onto the axe, looking down at him… it was as Carly raised the axe one more time to sever Negan's head that Johnny and Merle stopped her.

"Check him." Johnny says, Merle crouching down and not finding a pulse.

"Is it over?" Carly asks numbly as Merle stood up.

"You got him, Violet… it's over." Merle says before the three met up with Michonne and Daryl outside.

 **Present time…**

"I didn't think it was over at first… but when we went back, coroner vans were bringing the bodies out. It wasn't just Negan, we slaughtered all of them." Carly says after getting cleaned off and changed into pajamas, the blood long gone and the clothes she had been wearing burned and Shadow climbing up next to her, resting his head on her lap and her petting him.

"Carly, you didn't have a choice… we have to survive, we remind ourselves… that we are the walking dead, not these zombies… and definitely not Negan." Rick says, Amber helping Carly lie down as having noticed from looking at her, Amber knew that Negan injured Carly's pelvis when he kicked her off of him.

"He's right… Negan was damn delusional." Amber says.

"I've never seen anyone that angry… not even Trevor." Carly says as frantic footsteps were heard and Pinkie ran in, her and Carly hugging.

"He's gone?" Pinkie says.

"He's gone… Negan's gone." Carly says, Amber seeing Jackson and walking into the hallway.

"You okay, Jackson?" Amber asks, closing the door.

"Is that man truly gone? He hurt Auntie Carly." Jackson says.

"Yes he's 100 percent gone." Amber says.

"I hate how he treated you two… he was evil." Jackson says, him and Amber walking downstairs and him and Midnight hugging as Annie jumped into Amber's arms.

 **Meanwhile…**

"Gone! All of them just… gone! Your daughter is a fucking cold blooded sociopath, Michael!" Trevor shouts in shock, having watched the news reports earlier.

"She would have done it to protect Amber!" Michael yells.

"Oh, the child you ran out on, much like Amanda ran out on Junior! Carly is fucked up beyond all repair because she turned out like-" Trevor shouts.

"It's over with! Carly faced off against someone worse than you and not only did she beat him back, she made damn sure he'd never hurt or kill again!" Michael says.

"Worse than me?! You're that sure that Negan was worse?!" Trevor yells, Michael's phone ringing and him answering it.

"It's all over the news, M… did she really…" Franklin tries to ask.

"They're gone. No more saviors." Michael says.

Trevor left, ending up near the LS Hunterz Clubhouse as Tommy opened the door.

"There's no sign of them… why do you look pissed?" Tommy says.

"I didn't get to explain it but I had a plan to get rid of Negan… and Carly ruined it, she went off and slaughtered him! Carly killed them all!" Trevor yells.

"Your plans always fall to complete hell or involve you throwing someone under the bus to save your own ass, Trevor!" Tommy says.

"Bullshit!" Trevor yells.

"Slamming door in face." Tommy says before slamming the door shut.

Back at the safehouse, Carly and Johnny were stretched out on the bed in each other's arms and kissing… but when Johnny brushed against Carly's lower body, Carly hissed in pain and Johnny lightly stroked her hair to comfort her.

"Sorry… gonna have to hold off on that for a bit." Carly says, Johnny kissing her on her forehead before both heard the door open and saw a tired Trent walk in.

"Night watch for the walkers take too much outta ya?" Johnny asks, Trent nodding.

Carly tried to stand up, Johnny and Trent stopping her.

"Easy, tiny." Trent says.

"Trent… do you think of me as less than human for killing Negan?" Carly asks.

"Nope not at all." Trent says.

Negan was gone… and everything was calming down.

But it wouldn't stay calm for long.

 **A few days later…**

Walking around outside, Carly stopped when she felt hands cover her eyes… and reacted.

Carly stomped on the person's foot before snaking her arms around his neck and flipped him onto his back, Carly letting her vision adjust… and seeing Rick.

"Damn… sorry, Rick. You alright?" Carly says, helping Rick up.

"God you're just like Amber when it comes to these sort of thing." Rick says.

"Shows that despite the small height, I don't…" Carly says, grimacing slightly as some lingering pain shot through her bruised pelvic area. "I don't fuck around… damn, still hurts there." She says, Rick helping her sit down.

Rick was about to call Clint when both him and Carly heard Judith and Annie sobbing, both going to check on them and Carly picking Annie up as Rick checked on Judith.

"Annie, did you hit your mouth against the table, babydoll?" Carly asks, noticing blood and one of Annie's teeth missing while Judith wasn't hurt, just freaked out.

Annie whimpered and buried her face into Carly's left shoulder as Midnight, Jackson and Packie walked in, all three turning worried.

"I was… trying to keep Judith from climbing the table… and we both fell, is she okay?!" Annie asked through her sobs as Midnight ran to the kitchen, returning with a soaked cloth and pressing it to Annie's mouth.

"Come on baby girl, we're going to take you to Clint." Midnight says.

Annie climbed into Midnight's arms, Rick handing Judith to Carly before they met up with Johnny and headed to Mount Zonah.

"Clint." Midnight says, Clint walking over to them and seeing Annie's left incisor missing.

"What's happening?" Amber asks, walking over to them.

"Annie hurt." Judith says, Amber noticing Annie's missing tooth.

"Is Judith okay?" Annie asks.

"She's okay, kiddo." Carly says.

After both kids were checked out, Carly held onto Judith and sang to her… and it was at that moment that Trevor walked into the E.R, Carly cradling Judith protectively to her.

"Relax, I'm here to check on Annie." Trevor says.

"She lost a tooth like any other 4 year old but she's okay." Carly says, Trevor turning angry at her as he perceived Carly's tone to actually be saying _"Fuck off and don't come back around the kids."_.

"We don't want you here. Plain and simple as that." Amber says after walking over.

"Oh but Rick let's a cold blooded little-" Trevor starts to shout, Rick walking over and standing in front of Carly and Judith as Johnny walked to them.

"Carly's not cold blooded and Judith loves her." Rick says, Johnny guiding Carly and Judith to where Annie was, all three adults thinking the same thing.

' _Us leaving is what Trevor is trying to force us to do...'_


	8. Chapter 8

"We're never really sure how to feel afterwards…" Carly heard once she and the others were back at the safehouse, looked and saw Michonne.

"I feel worse than I did when I was 13… he started threatening the kids and then I just… I saw it all flash before my eyes, Michonne. It was either them or us and they weren't walking out of there alive." Carly says, hearing Carol walk over to her.

"We haven't really had the chance to talk… everything's been crazy but Rick told me what you and the others did. Thank you." Carol says, resting a hand on Carly's right shoulder. "I've been through a lot of hell in my life, kid… and I've seen you trying to make things better for us, for the kids. You're a great person, Carly… and you did what you had to do to make sure none of us got hurt or killed." She says, pulling Carly into her arms and the two hugging.

It was later into the night as Carly was surveying the surrounding area with Rick that Rick walked over and crouched down, handing her a cup of coffee before both drank them and set the empty cups down.

"We're gonna need it if we're gonna be up all night… how you holding up, kid?" Rick says, Carly looking away until Rick lightly rubbed her left shoulder. "Hey… it's alright to admit how you're feeling, Carly. Running from it ain't gonna help nothing." He says, sitting next to her.

"I thought I would've… felt safer after getting rid of Negan. Rick… I feel numb, I feel like it isn't real. I feel like I'm gonna wake up and find that he's… gone and done what Trevor's tried to do, kill…" Carly says.

"Kill Johnny and you… Negan pushed you too far, threatening to kill all of us just because Amber's not his kid. You took power away from Negan by telling him the truth and he hated it… Carly, Trevor's the only person who does fault you for it because he knows that you faced off against worse than him and won. And it scares him that you're not afraid to fight back… to prove that you won't go down without a fight." Rick says.

"You don't…" Carly tries to ask.

"I could never think of you as heartless, kiddo… never." Rick says, him and Carly hugging.

In her sleepy haze, Amber walked downstairs and saw the two, walking over.

"Hey… couldn't sleep?" Carly says after she and Rick let go, Amber sitting across from Carly.

"I'm just used to sleep for a couple hours and then being awake again." Amber says.

"I was like that… after the car crash, I had nightmares. I stopped taking the pain meds and was up for four days before the hospital shooting. Haven't really slept through the night that much since and that was six years ago." Carly says, Amber realising that killing Negan amplified the PTSD that Carly had.

Amber reached over and pulled Carly into her arms, the two hugging.

"Go on, get some sleep… I'll stay here." Amber says after they let go, Carly heading upstairs.

"Johnny helped her much like Daryl helped you…" Rick says as Amber sat next to him.

"Yeah he has." Amber says.

"Much like Michonne helped me…" Rick says.

"Yeah… how long do you think it'll be before Johnny and Carly start a family?" Amber says.

"About a year, maybe a little less… have you and Daryl talked about kids?" Rick says.

"Yeah… we want to try again." Amber says.

"You two will be great parents, Amber… I know it." Rick says.

"Yeah we're just worried after what happened last time." Amber says.

 **6 months later…**

"You alright?" Amber asks as newly turned 20 year old Carly exited the bathroom, having just thrown up.

Carly nodded, wiping the back of her mouth.

"Hello ladies." Trevor says as he walks in.

"Trevor, never suggest pizza night again!" Carly says, startling Trevor.

"I think she hates you." Amber says.

"Oh, I wouldn't think so… but she might after what I have to tell her next. Zosha's disappeared, now she's _re_ appeared on the television… eh… in a place that looks a lot like a medieval dungeon." Trevor says.

"You son of a bitch, you sold her out?!" Carly shouts.

"Thought so, always assuming the worst of me… no, I didn't 'sell her out', all I did was freak out when the image of her face replaced the bar in _Coronation Street_!" Trevor says.

Carly was about to respond when the door slammed open and Merle and Daryl helped Zosha in, Zosha turning livid when she saw Trevor.

"You…" Zosha hissed, Trevor stepping back. "I thought that I could trust you just once, when it involved your own business!" She says angrily.

"Zosha, what happened?!" Carly asks, Zosha suddenly changing to a cheerful, slightly hyper manner.

"Me? I was incarcerated in the lighthouse and was freed by my new friends, Sand Shoes and Jog Pants." Zosha says cheerfully, followed by Merle asking "What's wrong with my pants?!"

"I can see why she calls you that." Amber says.

"Zosha, what else is wrong? Something else ain't right, I'm not that…" Carly says, the pause as she nearly adapted one of Immy's common terms.

"Oh, nothing, I'm just a bit hyper because the venom is reacting with my unearthly blood." Zosha says, Carly looking confused. "In other words-" Zosha turned to Trevor. "-I've been fucking bit! Because this backstabber with many knives, left me in the middle of nowhere with no means to protect myself!" She yells, exposing two separate bites, a small one on the back of her hand but a bigger, much deeper one was in her forearm, pouring with a mix of purple blood and yellow tinged fluid, the colour the venom turned in her body.

Carly fought the urge to throw up… but immediately picked up Spiky and bashed it into Trevor's back, Trevor screaming as he fell to his knees.

"Trevor… go. Take your ass and go!" Carly says in a low and angered tone as K8lynn ran in. "He left Zosha to get bitten, K8! He's a worthless bastard!" She shouts after Johnny ran downstairs and disarmed her as Rick ran in, K8lynn looking at Trevor in shock… which then faded to a neutral look, K8lynn walking in front of and facing Trevor. Carly knew what this was, K8lynn's past of constant loss and betrayal had sent her beyond PTSD, the right circumstances would make that seem tiny.

"Is that so?" K8lynn asks before grabbing Trevor by his collar and pulling him over, the two's lips meeting in the middle… before some screamed and some jumped back against the wall, as blood and scraps of shotgun shells exploded out of Trevor's back, K8lynn shushing him before pushing him down, a pump shotgun suddenly in her right, shaking hand.

Carly stayed behind Johnny, frightened beyond belief as Rick went to check on Judith, who was screaming in terror.

"What the fuck?!" Amber exclaimed, K8lynn looking at her with wide, almost insane looking eyes. "I just didn't expect that to happen." She says.

"Don't leave the windows open… things can climb in." K8lynn says in a slight daze.

"Don't be daft, walkers can't even jump." Amber says, K8lynn looking away.

"You'd be surprised… there's worse things than rotting corpses." K8lynn says in a slightly taunting voice.

"Kid? Just… just stay calm, alright?" Merle asks, gently taking the gun from K8lynn. "No one is gonna hurt you ever again." He says.

"Don't promise things you can't keep…" K8lynn says before looking right at Merle. "What. About. You?" She says.

"We've all been through hell… I left after one night when my dad tried to kill me. I thought I was better off on the streets." Merle says.

"I left after cigarettes killed my dad… and I was better off on the streets. I was robbed, stabbed, raped and eventually, forced to kill which later led to be being in the execution chair… oh dear." K8lynn says before looking at Zosha. "You're timing yourself." She says.

"Yes… my heart is slowing down by about 2 beats a minute." Zosha says, her hand pressed to the right side of her chest as Zorolians had their hearts inverted to humans.

"You're… dying?! Why not use a restore-" Carly starts to say.

"I can't, Carly… restoring shuts off my whole body, I'd turn completely in seconds… I die or you and the children do, take your pick." Zosha says before managing to stand up and make her way to the kitchen.

Carly followed her and crouched down, Zosha lightly rubbing her arm as tears filled their eyes.

"I… I knew one day, you wouldn't come back but… I thought it would be later in life." Carly says.

"I could restore… I could blast myself with Gamma radiation, kill the infection and myself in minutes… oh yes. But even if I did… I'd feel it. Even if I come back, it still feels like dying. Some new mind runs off with this body and its memories and this version of me is just left behind…" Zosha says, collapsing to her knees in a wreck at the end. "I don't want to… feel that again… I don't want to die." She whispers through her tears.

Carly lowered her head and sobbed, Zosha sitting up and resting her right ear against Carly's stomach, the baby's heartbeat comforting her.

"She'll grow up… she won't be okay. She will be… amazing." Zosha says before standing up. "I'm not the first to go through this, I can survive it but I can't do it alone… I need to find an old friend." She says.

"But?" Carly asks, knowing there was more to it.

"But we hate each other." Zosha says, going to leave and stopping Carly as she tried to follow. "Don't endanger the unborn. Besides… this, I do alone." She says.

Carly stayed as Zosha left, Johnny walking over and pulling Carly into his arms.

' _She… Sachi.'_ Carly thought, Zosha hearing her from the distance.

"Go on, girl… it has more meanings than in Japanese." Zosha says as she managed to climb onto Carly's now rarely used Vader, starting it with her plasma multitool and having to stand on the seat to drive it, but sped ahead regardless.

Across and beyond the edges of the state, for the first time in decades, Zosha sensed the presence of her old childhood best friend as she took a deep inhale, stood on a pile of gravel on the very edge of San Fierro. Deeper into the junkyard, Jorra stood up after picking up Zosha's telepathic pattern, his crimson coloured back glowing on the junk behind him. He bent down and picked up a metal bar, whacking it against a nearby barrel in a pattern… the distortion of Zosha's slightly out of tune heart, which was trying to be a 4 chambered human heart and a 5 chambered Zorolian heart at the same time.

After the third row of the pattern, Zosha started walking towards the source as the fourth started, Jorra turning around as she approached.

"Hasn't it been a while?" Zosha says, Jorra grinning and rubbing his left hand against his slightly decomposed right, his pale left eye misaligned from his black right but still trained on Zosha… and as soon as she was close enough, his hands opened and telepathic energy shot into Zosha's head, causing her to scream as feelings of heartbreak, agony and suffering were forced through her head, eventually causing her to fall down, Jorra quickly catching her. He stared into her eyes, making sure she felt his mind before he dropped her to the ground, crouching next to her.

"Do you remember when we were little… and we ran across those hills, around the storm pits and swimming through lakes… those days of friendship and innocence. Look at us now." Jorra says, Zosha managing to raise her head.

"I'm… bitten, Jorra." Zosha manages to say.

"I know… and the answer for my help, is simple. You've got more cycles left than me, use one." Jorra says, walking away as Zosha stood up with a moan.

"Still as spineless as always… never willing to help those you see as weaker than yourself, you don't have the right to call yourself a Zorolian." Zosha says, Jorra turning around.

"And you do?! You who carries a human heart and 5-digited hands and feet?! You're an abomination… with those infection riddled weak beings is exactly where you belong!" Jorra shouts before leaving, returning to his kingdom of twisted metal and gravel as Zosha limped in the other direction… now she was releasing tears because of the infection. Before it had been the thought of regenerating again, now she didn't have any other solutions.

Jorra's head snapped up at a distant thought.

' _You dare call any of us abominations?! What makes you any better?! Taking my family away is just proving how bitter you are!'_

" _Bitter, heartless, backstabbing… I haven't chosen a favourite yet."_ Jorra replied to the source before returning to his makeshift castle in the back of a rusted van.

Jorra screamed as he felt Zosha's teeth sink into his right shoulder.

"If I die… you die with me!" Zosha growled as Jorra turned to her in shock.

"What do you need?" Jorra asks through the pain.

"I want to know how you survived your bite. That's at least 3 months old." Zosha says.

"As I said… restore. If you survive the cycle, your body afterwards adapts to immunity and the infection stops in it's tracks." Jorra says, Zosha not taking it.

"No, there's another way, I know it!" Zosha says in a desperation to be right.

"Oh poor little halfling, feeling every death she goes through… that's all there is to it. Restore, survive, adapt." Jorra says, Zosha throwing him to the floor of the van.

"Except you shut your soul off…" Zosha says.

"You really think that your granddaughter will let you near that kid after this?!" Jorra asks, Zosha punching him right in the nose and knocking him out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Meanwhile…**

"Hey…" K8lynn says, sitting across from Carly, who was on the couch with her knees towards her. "She'll come back, Carly." She says.

Carly glanced at the fire outside, the fire Daryl and Merle were using to burn Trevor's body.

"Jorra… that's who she's gone to, a traitor no better than the corpse they're burning now." Carly says as Ashley walked in. "Trevor's dead, Ash… he betrayed Zosha, let her get bit and now he's finally gone." She says, Ashley's eyes widening and mouth dropping open in shock because of how Carly said it… Carly was detaching herself from Trevor's death.

"K8…" Ashley starts to say.

"I killed him… if I had let him live, he would've constantly targeted Carly and Johnny's baby." K8lynn says.

Carly flinched as she felt Zosha's restoration starting… but Zosha was also taking Jorra's last cycle and he was screaming in pain and anger.

"Ash, they're in the junkyard in San Fierro… please, find Jake and take him there to help." Carly says.

"I'm onto it." Ashley says before leaving. When Ashley found Jake and told him, he led her to Zosha's ship and grabbed a few things before the two left for San Fierro.

When they got to the junkyard, Jorra laid there cold and dead and Zosha's backmarks were glowing a bluish violet… but she was going into a restoration cycle and her eyes were barely open.

"Guys…" Zosha manages to say.

"Hang in there, Zo… think of that new little baby that'll be here in a few months time." Ashley says, Jake injecting an antidote into the bite.

"I can imagine her already… such a beautiful little one." Zosha says before her eyes closed.

"Fight for her, for that little family… for them." Jake says as tears streamed down his face.

"Please Zo, fight for us." Ashley says.

Zosha was motionless, Ashley crying too.

"She's been through more than we can imagine, Ashley." Jake says as the two hug each other tightly.

"What do we tell tiny?" Jake asks after a few minutes, the two letting go.

"We tell her… tell her that if this doesn't work, we have to stick together…" Ashley says, closing her eyes and picking Zosha up in her arms.

When they returned after putting Zosha in a med chamber in her ship, Carly saw the looks on their faces… and she knew.

"No…" Carly says as she started crying, Ashley pulling her into her arms. "No!" She screamed through her tears.

"We're so sorry Carly." Ashley says.

Carly buried her face into Ashley's shoulder as she sobbed violently, Ashley rubbing her hand up and down Carly's back. When the two eventually let go, Carly walked outside to where Trevor's burned corpse was and Merle saw the enraged look in her eyes and tried to calm her down.

"Give me the knife." Carly says, Merle reluctantly handing the hunting knife to her… Carly raised it over her head and brought it down repeatedly until all that was left of the corpse was pieces as Johnny, Daryl and Amber ran outside.

"Carly, calm down!" Amber yells, the three running over to her.

"He took Zosha from us! She was our family… and now she's gone. I wish I had killed Trevor a long time ago… the bastard only thought of himself, put himself first…" Carly yells, quieting down as she threw the knife down before Johnny pulled her into his arms.

The mood later into the night was tense and somber, Rick sitting next to Carly after she finished eating and was looking at photos of Zosha.

"I was really hoping… she'd be around for a long time. I didn't think today would turn out like it did…" Carly says, Rick seeing the test in the trashcan.

 **Meanwhile…**

"Ashley? What happened?!" Clint asks as Ashley ran up to him in Mount Zonah's E.R.

"Trevor let Zosha get bit and now she's gone." Ashley says.

"No… damn it, did she try to restore herself?" Clint says.

"Put her in a med chamber in her ship… I don't know if it'll work and Carly's devastated." Ashley says.

"I want to go check on her… she's not gonna want to sleep tonight." Clint says, looking for a sedative but Ashley stopped him.

"Can't give her any meds… Carly's pregnant." Ashley says, Clint putting down the sedative.

"I still want to go and check on her and the little one." Clint says.

After some time, Carly and Johnny showed up at the E.R, Clint checking Carly's blood pressure and finding it at a normal level, 110/65.

"She's gone…" Carly says quietly, Clint lightly gripping her left hand.

"I'm sorry for the loss Carly, Zosha meant the world to us….but I don't want you stressing out too much." Clint says.

Carly nodded, Clint putting the ultrasound gel on Carly's stomach after Carly moved her tank top up. The second Clint moved the wand around, Carly and Johnny looked at the screen as they heard the heart beating and Clint seeing that Carly was 9 weeks along.

"Sachi…" Carly says.

"You think it's going to be a girl?" Clint asks.

"Yeah… Zosha called the baby a she… Zosha is… she was never wrong about that sort of thing." Carly says.

"Well little Sachi seems quite healthy." Clint says.

Ashley lightly hugged Carly and Johnny before walking out into the hallway… and looking as Michael walked over to her, his eyes red from crying.

"Did Trevor suffer for what he did?" Michael asks.

"Yes he did." Ashley says.

"It's… I can't believe she's gone… is that a…" Michael says, looking towards the room when he heard the heartbeat.

"That's the sound of your little granddaughter's heart beating." Ashley says.

Michael started crying again, a mix of happiness but still sadness after Zosha's death, him and Ashley hugging.

"I'm gonna be a granddad…" Michael says quietly.

"Yes you are. Congrats Michael." Ashley says.

As they let go, Michael heard it.

" _I'm always there watching you, my son… and my granddaughter and great granddaughter. Never forget…"_

"I won't, Mom… I promise." Michael whispers.

"You can hear her?" Ashley asks.

"Spirits never stray far from us…" Michael says as they let go, looking to where Jackson was… but Jackson was looking by the water fountain and lightly tugging on Packie's hand.

"I can see her, Daddy…" Jackson says, Packie knowing that Zosha was nearby.

 **The next morning…**

Carly rubbed her eyes as she started waking up, groaning as she felt the overwhelming nausea and leaned over, throwing up into the small trash can as Midnight walked in and over to her, holding Carly's hair back.

"I know Carly. Morning sickness is the worst part of it." Midnight says.

Carly set the trash can down and sat up carefully, Midnight lightly hugging her before going and rinsing the trash can out. When Midnight walked back to Carly, she saw the sonogram picture in the picture frame and smiled.

"Hard to believe anyone starts out that tiny…" Carly says.

"It's always hard to believe it no matter how many kids you have." Midnight says.

"Mikey told me… oh, damn it." Carly says, about to dial Mikey's number until Midnight stopped her. "He already knows that she's gone, doesn't he?" She asks.

"I told him last night." Midnight says.

"They were talking about… starting a family, having children…" Carly says, picking up a book that Zosha had left behind and opening it, Midnight seeing a picture of Zorolian babies before birth. "She only did it once before… and it broke her heart when they basically removed any Zorolian DNA from her son." She says, setting the book aside.

Midnight and Carly heard small footsteps and looked, seeing Judith.

"Zosha… gone?" Judith asks.

"I'm so sorry, baby." Carly says, Judith managing to climb up on the bed and her and Carly hugging.

"Don't cry, Mama…" Judith says, looking up at Midnight. "Zosha was kind…" She says, Midnight kissing her on her forehead.

Outside, Shadow whimpered as he couldn't find Zosha and walked to Amber, resting his head on her lap.

"She's gone away Shadow. We'll see her someday again." Amber says.

Shadow whined as Banjo let out some saddened barking, calling out for Zosha as Daryl petted him and looked at Daryl like _"Daddy, it's not fair!"_.

"I know, buddy… it's not fair." Daryl whispered.

After walking downstairs, Carly looked and saw Johnny fixing some dry toast for her… she walked over and the two hugged, Johnny kissing her on her forehead as she looked outside.

 **6 months earlier…**

"False alarm, guys." Carly says as Merle helped her up and Zosha carefully examined Carly's scraped knees, the two having heard her scream.

"Lower the rifles!" Zosha says as Daryl and Amber ran towards them, lowering the plasma rifles.

"Tiny, you screamed like you were being murdered!" Daryl says.

"I'm okay, just slipped off the cliffs." Carly says, Zosha pulling a small bottle of antiseptic spray and spraying it on Carly's knees.

"Don't worry, this stuff works fast." Zosha says, Merle picking Carly up in his arms.

"Amber girl, what's going on over there? Anyone bit?" Rick asks over the walkie talkie.

"No everyone is okay. Carly slipped off the cliffs." Amber says.

"Zosha, she okay?" Rick asks.

"Yeah. I was a medic in the war, I can help fix people up." Zosha says.

 **Present time…**

Carly looked up as Morgan sat across from her, the two having met when he reached Los Santos after Rick managed to call him.

"I lost family too…" Morgan says, taking a picture of himself and Duane out of his pants pocket.

"Your son…" Carly says.

"I tried to make things as normal for him as I could… much like you tried to help Zosha live like a human." Morgan says, Carly nodding.

"It's not easy sometimes… I still feel like she's here." Carly says, Amber walking in.

"Hey, Amber." Morgan says, Amber smiling when she saw the picture of Duane.

"Today would've been his 17th birthday…" Amber says.

"I found an old car earlier… 1976 Imponte Phoenix. I was gonna call out to him, say _"It's time to learn how to drive, son."_... for a moment, I thought he was there with me." Morgan says, Amber lightly hugging Morgan. "I miss my little boy…" He says.

"We all have someone that we miss a lot." Amber says.

"It doesn't get any easier… but we remember the good times we had with them. Zosha would used to climb up trees and it scared me because I didn't want her to fall… but she reassured me that she'd be okay. I climbed up one evening and we watched the reddish grey sky… for a second, it was like she saw it the way she did on her home planet." Carly says, Morgan rubbing her right shoulder as she brushed her tears away.

Later into the day, Carly had finished eating lunch when she heard the door open and immediately pulled her SNS Pistol and aimed it… only to see Paul and lower it after switching the safety back on.

"Sorry, Paul." Carly says as Paul closed the door, Paul walking over and handing something to Carly.

"We were looking through Zosha's ship… unsure of what to do with her things when we found that." Paul says, Carly unfolding the letter.

' _If you're reading this, the restoration cycle is either delayed or I'm long gone… in either case, I leave my ship and everything on it to you, Carly… if I don't come back, let the little one see it with her own eyes when she's old enough, teach her about the Zorolians and the blacked out spot in our family's history. Your grandmother, Zosha Saren Townley.'_

"She had a feeling she wouldn't make it back to us…" Carly says as tears trailed down her face.

"I'm so sorry Carly." Paul says before walking over to the couch and sitting down. "That feels much better."

"I remember when you first met her… started in a drinking contest, ended with her still sober enough to shove you into your van…" Carly says as they hug.

Paul turned and felt Judith's tiny arms wrap around him, Paul picking her up into his lap.

"Hey there kiddo." Paul says.

"They… look for her." Judith says, pointing to Shadow and Banjo.

"I know… one day, we'll all see her again, Judith." Paul says.

 **A few days later…**

Carly bolted up out of her sleep, lying back down before Johnny turned towards her and wrapped an arm around her, his right hand resting on her tiny baby bump.

"Sorry for waking you…" Carly says.

"It's okay, darlin… how you feeling today?" Johnny says.

"For once, I don't feel sick… little Sachi is easing off, I think." Carly says before they heard footsteps running to the bathroom and a door slamming.

"Amber…" Johnny says.

"I'll go check on her." Carly says, standing up and exiting the room. "Amber, you alright?" She says, lightly knocking on the bathroom door.

Amber stood up and opened the door after flushing the toilet, Carly helping her to the room Amber shared with Daryl and seeing a note.

' _Early supply run, I didn't want to wake you up, be back soon. Love, Daryl.'_

"Damn it… never again, those guys are worse than walkers." Daryl says as he, Merle and K8lynn ran in, having been attacked by Altruists.

"They're still alive?" Carly asks after she, Johnny and Amber walk downstairs, K8lynn closing and locking the door.

"Some are, others not so much." Daryl says.

"Those fuckers… they're angry that Trevor's…" K8lynn says, stopping when she saw the look in Carly's eyes, Amber seeing it too… anytime that anyone mentioned Trevor, Carly's eyes would glaze over as if she was trying to forget that he even existed.

"I think we shouldn't mention his name anymore." Amber says.

"Yeah… sorry." K8lynn says.

"It's not gonna be easy… but he's no longer around." Carly says, heading into the kitchen and looking for the pancake mix Trent scavenged yesterday as Trent, his right arm broken, walked in.

"Hey tiny." Trent says.

"How did Sam mistake you for an intruder again?" Carly asks.

"I climbed through the window because the door was locked that's why." Trent says.

"Again, sorry about that." Sam says after walking downstairs.

"No big deal." Trent says.

After eating, Carly was waiting with the others as Amber was pacing around in the bathroom, Carly reaching over and rubbing Daryl's back.

"Hey… everything will work itself out." Carly says.

"I know it's just I worry about her." Daryl says.

"It's hard not to worry." Carly says, Daryl lightly rubbing Carly's stomach.

"Doing okay in there, little one? Not giving your mommy a hard time?" Daryl asks. Amber eventually emerged from the bathroom and Daryl stood up and walked to her.

"It worked…" Amber says, smiling as Daryl saw _Positive 4 weeks_ in the display screen before the two hugged.

"I can't believe it." Daryl says.

Once everyone had hugged Amber and Daryl, Carly walked outside and found Merle fixing up a picture frame.

"Kids were running around in the house again…" Merle says.

"Things can be fixed… replaced. Lives can't." Carly says.

"I heard the news, about having a niece or nephew soon." Merle says.

"Yeah… how you feel about it?" Carly says.

"Nervous… scared that I might screw the kid up for life." Merle says.

"No one's perfect, Merle… we all have those worries, whether we're stable around kids. And if Amber and Daryl get married, that makes you and me in laws." Carly says, Merle chuckling slightly.

Out in the forest, Sam found Rosita digging small graves… and then saw Trevor's chopped up body.

"Good god… what happened?!" Sam says.

"This bastard got Zosha bit… she's gone. We've been trying to figure out whether to bury his chopped up parts or burn them. Carly lost it and chopped him up… Ezekiel and the kingdom okay?" Rosita says.

"Fixing a wall panel was about the only work that needed doing." Sam says.

"Shiva got his head stuck again?" Rosita asks, Sam nodding.

"He's okay… that's one tough tiger. How's Carly holding up?" Sam says.

"She's trying to be strong… not just for herself but for her and Johnny's kid." Rosita says, Sam blinking in slight shock.

Sam walked towards the house and into the backyard, finding Carly sitting at the table and walked over, seeing that Carly was looking at a picture of herself, Sam and Zosha from the 2015 San Fierro peace and love festival.

"I loved that day… very multicultural." Sam says.

"It was… I can't believe she managed to climb up the Ferris Wheel at Pier 69." Carly says as Sam sat down. "I just wish… she hadn't insisted on going and helping him, that… that I'd said something to get her to stay home. It doesn't feel the same without her here." She says, Sam lightly resting a hand on Carly's right shoulder and Shadow resting his head on Sam's lap.

"Nothing is ever gone, not forever… not completely. When something… can be remembered, it'll always be there." Sam says.

Shadow barked in agreement, Sam petting him.

 **Meanwhile…**

"Wait… you're telling me that you killed him?!" Lamar manages to ask after K8lynn told him what she did and what led up to it. "Zosha's not coming back, is she?" He asks.

K8lynn was about to reply when her phone rang and she answered it.

"Uh, K8? Things got crazy." Jake says.

"Did you guys kill the Altruists?!" K8lynn asks. Seconds later, a loud explosion rocketed the state, K8lynn and Lamar jumping onto the ground.

"If the injuries we inflicted on them didn't kill them, that sure did! They were after Pinkie and Dash again and those two had had enough, showed up at the Hunterz clubhouse with this plan in mind!" Jake says.

"Hey, you detonated the explosives!" Dash yells.

"We would've been better using those superweapons Immy was hiding!" Jake says, screaming when Immy slapped him.

"Shut up, would you've wanted to be exposed to radiation?!" Immy yells.

"Well… there's different types of-" Jake starts to say.

"I mean strong enough that within a minute, you'd be screaming as every skin cell on your body is peeled away!" Immy shouts.

"Explosives work better." Jake says fearfully, Immy lightly patting him on his arm.

When everyone had reached the house in Chumash, Carly held and comforted Judith as the toddler screamed in pain from her ears ringing, Rick walking over to Immy.

"She won't calm down, I think one of her eardrums might've ruptured." Rick says, him and Immy walking over to Judith.

"Too loud!" Judith cried, Immy lightly rubbing her back as Clint ran in, checking Judith's ears.

"No signs of rupture… it's okay, kiddo." Clint says, Judith calming down slightly as Carly lightly stroked Judith's hair.

After calming down, Carly headed outside and saw the smoke trails in the distance, Immy following her.

"At least it sorted one problem out, if nothing else." Immy says.

"Yeah… those fuckers creeped me the hell out. I told you about what happened after I killed the old leader, right?" Carly says, Immy thinking back.

 **4/12/15…**

"I didn't exactly have a choice alright?! Look at what they did to me!" Carly says angrily, revealing bruises on her arms and knife wounds on her right side but that didn't faze Trevor, who was angrier about losing one of his sources of income.

"The hell is going on in here?!" Immy asks as she and K8lynn walked into the caravan.

"Those cannibals tortured me, Johnny and Jack for nearly a day before we escaped! We had to kill them, we didn't have a choice!" Carly says.

"Trevor, did you know about this beforehand? Did you send them after her?!" K8lynn asks.

"I warned her repeatedly what would happen if she and Johnny got closer!" Trevor says angrily.

"And I told you it's none of your damn business who I choose to be with! You don't want to accept it, too damn bad, but that doesn't call for sending cannibals after us like hitmen!" Carly says.

"Yes it does, all the way! I warned you time and time again, don't act surprised when it does finally happen! Trevor Philips does not! Fuck! Around! There will be NO MORE CHANCES, SEPARATE NOW OR NEXT TIME, NO ONE LIVES!... I'll _personally_ see to it." Trevor says, yelling halfway through.

Carly immediately knocked Trevor down and bashed her fists against his face, evoking painful screaming from Trevor before trying to snap his neck and nearly managing to before K8lynn and Immy pulled her off of him, K8lynn shaking Carly.

"Calm the hell down!" K8lynn yells.

"No one lives, you heard that son of a bitch say it himself! The next person he turns his rage on, I'm worried it'll be you!" Carly shouts.

"If he does, that's my problem, not yours! Go home, recover with your friends." K8lynn says.

Carly and Immy left and K8lynn pulled Trevor up… before slapping him.

"What was that for?! I'm the one the little biker whore betrayed!" Trevor yells.

"How, by falling in love with Johnny like you and I fell in love?! Oh yeah, real betrayal!" K8lynn says sarcastically. "They didn't deserve to be tortured and you know it, you're a fucking hypocrite and they know it! I can see why Carly thinks it's not worth trying to get along with you, you don't show any love towards her!" She says before grabbing her keys and heading into the room, returning with some things packed up.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, bitch?!" Trevor demands.

"Gonna go stay with some _actual_ friends until you get your head outta your ass, you prick!" K8lynn says before leaving, the door slamming and her driving off in her Sandking XL.


	10. Chapter 10

**Present time…**

"Hey…" K8lynn says after Sam walked downstairs, having gotten the full story from Carly.

"It was all just a way of getting us to lower our guard… Trevor was pissed that Carly was the one who killed Negan before he could, he felt like he was more justified in it than she was." Sam says, sitting next to K8lynn. "And in the end, it cost Zosha her life. That's the real tragic thing about it, she was only trying to help." She says.

"Somehow… I don't think her story is over yet." K8lynn says.

"I don't think so either." Sam says.

Upstairs, Carly and Johnny opened their eyes as the door opened… and both blinked in shock.

"Keyshi?" Carly says, Keyshi closing the door after he and Mikey walked in and Keyshi climbing up on the bed… but Carly could tell that Keyshi hadn't slept much either. "How did you get here, kiddo?" She asks before seeing Jack, Amber and Daryl walk in.

"Wait who's this?" Amber asks, pointing at Keyshi.

"I'm… I'm Zosha's nephew. It didn't work, did it?" Keyshi says, the 5 year old looking up at Amber.

"We're not sure… some of us keep hearing her, sensing her thoughts." Daryl says, Amber seeing tears in Keyshi's blackish red eyes.

"She wasn't trying to hurt anyone, only protect us." Keyshi says before dissolving into tears, Amber picking the 2'9" creature up into her arms as he cried, Carly and Mikey hugging as Mikey started crying.

It was early into the next day when Merle woke up and saw Carly walk downstairs, knowing where she was heading… Zosha's ship. Standing up, Merle managed to stop her from reaching the door.

"I wouldn't… if, _if_ she's alive, you can't know what's going on." Merle says.

"Something isn't adding up, Merle… I can feel it, she's fighting it." Carly says as they sit down. "I just want to know if she's… if she's gonna be okay." She says, Merle putting an arm around her and Carly noticing a prosthetic in place of the bayonet. "You got rid of your weapon… why?" She says.

"There's… hardly any need for it here now. Hopefully I won't have to reattach it any time soon." Merle says.

Carly rested her head against Merle's shoulder and he lightly stroked her hair.

But as he was about to ask what she wanted for breakfast, a loud bang caught their attention.

"Stay here, Violet." Merle says, arming himself with an AP Pistol before leaving. As he cautiously approached the source of the noise in the predawn hours, a familiar small figure looked up at him with confused eyes.

"Where am I? Who are you?" Zosha asks, Merle carefully crouching down to her.

"I'm Merle… a friend you knew at one point." Merle says.

"I don't remember yo… ow…" Zosha says, the last part quieter and halfway to tears as she rubbed her chest painfully.

"Shh… it's okay, Zo… you'll be alright." Merle says, Zosha climbing into his arms for comfort and Merle hugging her.

"It hurts when I… breathe…" Zosha says quietly.

Merle picked her up carefully, Zosha seeing the prosthetic arm.

"What happened… to your real arm?" Zosha asks.

"I got attacked by the same thing you did… had to cut the arm off." Merle says, Zosha looking at him with sympathetic eyes.

"Those teeth… hurt…" Zosha says, hearing a distant but familiar thought.

' _Keyshi's here… he doesn't understand why you're not here.'_

"Carly…" Zosha says, the memory flashing through her mind.

" _Fuck, fuck! I thought that was it back there!" Zosha says after Daryl and Merle helped her back to the car and Merle noticed the purple coloured blood as he drove them away from the chaos._

" _Oh damn…" Merle says, Daryl examining Zosha's hand._

" _Carly's gonna flat out murder us for this!" Daryl says, lightly stroking Zosha's hair to comfort her._

" _Sand Shoes… I don't want to die like this…" Zosha says._

"Sand Shoes… and Jog Pants…" Zosha says.

"Fitting nicknames though." Merle says as Mikey and Daryl ran to them, clamping his hand to his mouth in shock as Mikey's eyes widened.

"I know… I was just as shocked to have no idea who I am." Zosha says, the two noticing that something was different about her… then they saw it. Her eyes were the same colour as her back markings and glowed the same way too, though not as bright.

"Zosha… we thought we had lost you…" Daryl says, Zosha looking up at him and her and Mikey hugging.

"Where's… Carly?" Zosha asks.

"It… we weren't sure if it was safe for her to be here…" Daryl says, Zosha reaching over and pulling a picture out of his shirt pocket… printed in the right corner of it was _Baby Klebitz, 9 weeks_.

And then she remembered something else…

" _I don't get why you always feel the need to try to drag Carly into your business, Trevor. She doesn't owe you anything, you're just trying to get her killed so she and Johnny can't have their life together." Zosha says as they surveyed the airstrip… but Trevor turned angry at the last part and grabbed Zosha by her shirt. "What, don't like the truth? You hate that she's formed a grown up life for herself." She says._

" _What I hate is that she went rogue and killed Negan before I could explain the plan I had!" Trevor says menacingly._

" _She didn't have a choice! He was gonna kill, actually kill everyone she holds close! Negan wasn't making empty threats like you, Trevor! Compared to him, you're a coward!" Zosha yells, Trevor slamming her against the water tower repeatedly before letting her go._

"He tried to break my back… that's when the kidnapper showed up, kept me captive and released the walkers he caged up!" Zosha says.

"Tall, silver hair, wearing an eyepatch? I… I kind of snapped his neck and spine." Daryl says.

"Like he tried to do to me… good man. Now… Carly?" Zosha says.

The four reached the house… and Carly's eyes widened in shock as Zosha ran to her and the two hugged tightly.

"My memories left me… but I'm not leaving you." Zosha says, her glowing violet eyes shedding a few tears.

"I missed you… I thought I had lost you." Carly says as they let go, Carly brushing her tears away.

"Not going anywhere, kiddo… I promise." Zosha says, seeing Judith and Rick walk downstairs.

"Zosha!" Judith says, her and Zosha running to each other and hugging.

Daryl headed upstairs, waking Amber up.

"Zosha's alive!" Daryl says, Amber's eyes widening in shock.

"Am I still dreaming?" Amber mumbles, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

The two walked downstairs and Amber and Zosha hugged.

"Amber… my memories left but I'm getting them back." Zosha says.

"We'll help you every way." Amber says.

"I'm gonna need it…" Zosha says as they let go, Amber seeing the scars left behind.

 **A few hours later…**

"Wake your ass up!" Amanda hissed, Michael opening his eyes.

"You don't live here anymore, remember?" Michael asks.

"That's fine, what's nowhere near fine is finding out that you replaced me within weeks with some barely legal slut!" Amanda shouts, Michael turning over and seeing Misty next to him, only now remembering it.

"If I can clear things up…" Misty says as she opened her blue eyes. "I'm 21, I just look younger." She says.

"You want to clear things up, get a mop and clean the fucking floors!" Amanda growls.

"Fuck, no wonder Carly left two years ago, you damn near drove the poor girl mad like your mother did to you!" Misty says after sitting up, Amanda turning enraged and trying to slap her but was stopped when Michael grabbed her right wrist.

"Amanda, fuck off already or do I have to file a restraining order?!" Michael growls, Amanda leaving.

When she got to her Sentinel, she saw a ticket on the windshield.

"I was gone for five fucking minutes!" Amanda snarls, Benson watching from a distance as Amanda ripped up the ticket and tossed it aside before she got in her car and drove off, Benson following her in the Buffalo S and turning the siren and lights on.

It was as Carly and Johnny were about to head back to their Cheval Fugitive that they jumped back as Amanda sped past her and was crashed into by Benson.

"What the fuck?! Get off of me, you stupid bastard! I haven't broken any laws!" Amanda yells as Benson yanked her out and handcuffed her.

"Littering, speeding, refusing to pay a parking ticket and oh yeah, attempted vehicular assault, particularly towards your own daughter and son in law!" Benson says, turning to the couple. "You alright?" He asks.

"Just get her in a straitjacket where she belongs." Carly says, Amanda turning rageful before she saw Zosha… and then shocked.

"I thought you were dead!" Amanda yells.

"So did I." Zosha says before pausing, breathing heavily… and releasing a strong sneeze for someone of her size, seeming at first repulsive as saliva hit Amanda's cheek… but then it made sense, her saliva was somehow acidic as it started burning Amanda's skin. "Now that's one hell of a cold." She says, wiping her mouth clean.

Amanda screamed as she was shoved into the car and taken away.

"We're okay… all of us." Carly says as they hug.

Heading back to the house, the three walked in and Immy and Zosha hugged.

Carly walked upstairs and saw Rick putting a sleeping Judith in her crib.

"She wasn't settling down easily." Rick says quietly after walking to Carly and closing the door. "You look shaken, what happened?" He asks.

"Madam Godzilla led Benson on a high speed chase and nearly clipped us." Carly says, Rick immediately checking her over for injuries. "We're okay, Rick." She says.

"Who's okay?" Amber asks walking into to room.

"Carly and the others, her crazy mother nearly hit them with the car." Rick says as Zosha walked upstairs.

"Zosha, the cops arrest Amanda?" Amber asks, Zosha nodding.

"Yeah. I hope by the time she gets out, the little ones will be well into their own lives." Carly says as she absentmindedly rubbed her stomach.

 **A few hours later…**

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Amanda yells after realising she was in the same cell as Scott.

"Hey what's up?" Scott says.

"What the hell did you end up in here for?!" Amanda asks.

"It's called a bar fight." Scott says.

"Scotty! Are you alright, who started it?!" Yasmine says as she runs over to the cell.

"The other guy made fun of my hair so I punched him." Scott says.

"And people call me deranged and think Carly's sane for being near you!" Amanda mutters.

"She is sane compared to you." Scott says.

Benson walked over and unlocked the cell door, Scott and Yasmine hugging.

"Just be careful not to get caught next time, Scotty." Benson says after closing and locking the cell door, Scott and Yasmine leaving.

Merle let the two in and Scott saw Carly reading one of the books she bought.

"There you are, what happened?!" Carly asks, putting the book down as Scott walked over and they hugged. Yeah

"Me and some other guy… Exchanged fists." Scott says.

"Sachi's gonna have a lot of crazy people in her life." Carly says as they let go, Scott seeing Indie walk downstairs with Trent's gold tooth in hand.

"Mechaheart, did he scam you again?" Scott asks.

"Yeah… someone needs to tell him that my bad heart doesn't mean I have a bad brain… or a bad throwing arm, it seems. Adapts perfectly to certain… weighted shot put balls." Indie says.

"Indie Elicia Philips, where's my tooth?!" Trent yells after walking downstairs.

"Right here, in my hand… but you'll return my next 3 months worth of prescription money or the next place this little shiny thing will be is spinning round and round in the flushing waters of the loo." Indie says.

"Fine." Trent says, handing Indie the $125 he scammed from her before she gave him the tooth.

"Actually, I wouldn't flush it. I'd clean it, drill it and put it on a necklace." Indie says.

"Oh, little designer huh?" Trent says, trying to hide behind Carly.

"Bad idea, Trent." Carly says, Trent sitting down… and seeing the slightly distant look in her eyes, Indie knowing why… it would've been Trevor's 49th birthday.

"Feeling okay?" Indie asks.

"This day used to mean a lot to me because I liked to make him smile… it feels wrong to miss the good times though, I just… I don't know why I do." Carly says, Indie pulling Carly into her arms.

Upstairs, Amber looked up as Sam walked in with Zosha and Sammy following.

"Hey… things okay downstairs?" Amber says.

"Carly's just getting old memories… today was Trevor's birthday." Sam says.

"Any festive day after they're gone is hard, no matter how much you hate them." Sammy says.

"It is… yesterday would've been my mother's birthday. For a long time, it was just me and her…" Amber says, blinking her tears away and showing them a picture of her and her mom.

"She looks… familiar." Sam says.

"Did you know her back in Ludendorff?" Amber asks.

"My mom knew her… I think she said that her name was Rebecca." Sam says.

"That was her name… Rebecca Mead. She'd grown up in l but left with me to Atlanta when I was a year old." Amber says.

Downstairs, Carly heard a car horn going off and looked out the window, seeing an angry Tracey.

"Go home!" Carly says, Amber walking downstairs and seeing Tracey.

"Hey wannabe porn star! Fuck off!" Amber yells.

"Stay outta this!" Tracey yells, Carly about to head outside but Johnny walked in and stopped her, having seen a pistol in Tracey's Issi.

"What are you doing over here, do you even know how to use that?" Rosita says after walking outside and closing the house door.

Tracey was about to respond when she was yanked out by Ashley and Ashley took her gun back.

"Stay outta this, Ash!" Tracey yells.

"Why, so you can shoot your pregnant sister?!" Ashley shouts, Tracey looking at her in slight shock… before turning neutral.

"Given how careless she is, that little brat would've happened sooner or later." Tracey says, Ashley punching her.

"You don't talk about your sister like that, ever!" Ashley yells.

"You think she'd be a good mom?! She doesn't have it in her to!" Tracey screams.

"And at the rate you are going you going to end up as a dead woman!" Ashley yells.

Tracey pulled herself away and got in the car, leaving. It was as Ashley was trying to calm down that a silver Albany Emperor pulled up and Jimmy got out, his left arm in a cast.

"And what do you want?" Ashley asks.

"Somewhere to hide where my crazy mother can't find me… she threw my controller at my arm. They've gone crazy, Tracey slashed every painting in the house and broke anything that wasn't nailed down." Jimmy says, Ashley wincing slightly.

Ashley helped Jimmy take his things into the house, Jimmy and Carly hugging.

"Holy hell… why did Amanda do this?" Carly asks after they let go, her seeing the cast.

"She finally went off the deep end." Jimmy says.

"Ain't no way she's getting near the baby after this." Carly says, Jimmy's mouth dropping open in shock… before he pulled Carly back into a hug. "Surprise, you're gonna be an uncle." She says as they let go.

"Uh… hi…" Jimmy says, him and Amber shaking hands.

"Hi I'm Amber." Amber says.

"You're my half sister right?" Jimmy asks.

"Yeah I am." Amber says.

"It's nice to meet you." Jimmy says.

"Likewise." Amber says. Carly smiled a little, thinking it was good to see Jimmy and Amber were getting along.

Carly walked outside and tilted her head to the side as she saw Jake putting barbed wire on the fence.

"Uh… should you really be handling something sharp and pointy and can slice through muscles within a second?" Carly asks.

"Yes tiny, that was a dumb question to ask." Jake says.

"Jake, you nearly lost a finger once from handling barbed wire." Carly says as Scott walks outside.

"Scott, can you tell her not to worry?" Jake asks.

"Jake, she's even more overprotective nowadays. I don't think she wants the young ones feeling like prisoners here." Scott says as Jake saw Jackson walk out to them.

"Hey kiddo." Jake says.

"Uncle Jake, what are you doing up there?" Jackson asks.

"Fixing the fence just so- aw shit!" Jake says, exclaiming the last part as he slipped on the ladder and now his jacket was caught in the barbed wire. "Little help please?"

Scott walked over, helping Jake free himself from the barbed wire.

"Thank you." Jake says.

"Just be lucky you aren't bleeding, tiny's still dealing with morning sickness." Scott says, Carly feeling slightly dizzy and Jackson helping her sit down.

"Not to mention the walker slayer." Jake says.

"I wouldn't call her that around-" Carly says, Jake jumping slightly when Banjo barked and growled at him. "Easy, Banjo." She says as Amber walks outside.

"Banjo settle. There's no walkers." Amber says.

Banjo calmed down, Jake managing to untangle his jacket from the wire.

"He can be very protective." Jake says.

"Well he's been family for a few years now." Amber says, Banjo walking over to Amber and Amber scratched behind his ear.

Out in the front yard after a while, Carly was looking around and Merle got out of the Kumura he and Daryl had commandeered a few days ago and walked over to her.

"Jake got tangled up in barbed wire." Carly says, Merle snickering.

"Is he alright?" Daryl asks.

"Yeah, just a bit freaked out… Banjo also started barking even though he's never barked at Jake before." Carly says as they walk in, Carly sitting down on the couch.

"That's odd. He never barks at anyone, unless he feel like they're a threat to the group." Daryl says.

Banjo ran in some time later, a piece of a shirt in his mouth and him dropping it in Carly's lap before Carly picked it up.

"It's Jackson's!" Carly says as Jackson ran in, shaking violently.

"Uncle Merle, they've got Daddy!" Jackson says, Merle picking the frightened boy up into his arms.

"Jackson, who's got Packie?" Carly asks after standing up.

 **Meanwhile…**

"Look… I don't know why you're after Rick!" Packie says, the hooded man crouching down… and pulling the hood off, Packie's eyes widening as Rick had told him about Shane. "Rick said you were dead." He says.

"Oh, I'm sure he still thinks that… the man is raising my daughter and I want her to know who her real father is." Shane says, before he heard Shadow and Banjo growling.

"Well, well, well. Look who crawled out of their grave." Amber says.

"Amber, since you knew I suppose dead, that means your back with the group. What happened to flying solo?" Shane says.

"Well shit happens." Amber says.

"Family… you've changed and I actually used to-" Shane says, screaming out in pain when unknown to him, Packie had gotten out of his restraints and stabbed him between his shoulder blades before he and Amber left with the dogs.

"Where's Jackson?!" Packie asks frantically.

"He's back at the house. He's fine." Amber says.

When the two reached the house and ran in with the dogs, Jackson and Packie hugged.

"Daddy!" Jackson says as tears ran down his face.

"It's okay buddy, Daddy's okay." Packie says as they let go, seeing scratches on Jackson's upper back. "Jackson, did that man hurt you?" He asks.

"He tried to drag me over the fence…" Jackson says as Midnight and Annie walked in and Jackson ran to them and hugged them.

"Jackson what happened?" Midnight asks.

"Some man tried to drag me away, demanding to know where Rick was." Jackson says as Carly walked upstairs and found Rick, who saw the look in her eyes and walked over to her.

"Shane's not dead… he tried to hurt Jackson and Packie." Carly says quietly, Rick pulling her into his arms… he knew why she was worried, Shane would try to take Judith away.

Meanwhile in Daryl and Amber's room, Amber was tying her arrow bag around her waist and picked up her crossbow.

"If he comes here, we'll all need to be armed… you said Packie stabbed him?" Daryl says as he sharpened his knife.

"Yes he did and I'm not going to sit around waiting for a pyscho to come knocking on my door. I'm going out to look for him." Amber says.

 **A few hours later…**

"Damn… how the hell did you-" Michael tries to ask as he helped Shane up to his feet, not knowing him… but Shane backed up, easily seeing the resemblance that Michael had to Amber.

"You remind me of someone I used to know." Shane says.

"Small woman, long black hair, blue eyes? That's my oldest daughter." Michael says, Shane turning angry.

"That crazy, loose bitch is your daughter?!" Shane demands.

"You don't talk about my family that way! I messed up with Amber's life but I've reconnected with her and if you had kids of your own, you'd understand!" Michael yells after punching Shane and knocking him down.

"I do have a daughter, and she was taken from me!" Shane yells.

"Oh really?!" Michael says, looking up when Midnight got out of her Dukes car and ran over to them. "Midnight, what the hell are you-" He tries to ask as Midnight tied Shane up.

"Look, about your husband and son-" Shane starts to say, Midnight punching him in his nose and breaking it.

"You think it's okay to hurt my family?! You're lucky that someone claimed dibs on killing you or you would be dead right now!" Midnight yells.

Shane tried to stand up but was knocked unconscious, Midnight and Michael dragging him to the car.


	11. Chapter 11

**Half hour later...**

Carly had gotten out of the Cheval Fugitive and walked into the De Santa house, seeing Shane tied to a chair in the kitchen and his mouth gagged.

"You think it's okay to harm my friends and go after innocent kids?! Jackson's my godson, you bastard!" Carly demands after ripping the gag out of Shane's mouth, Shane seeing the visible baby bump that Carly had through the baggy tank top… but her fury reminded him of Lori and he assumed that the baby was Rick's.

"So now Rick is gonna have another kid?" Shane asks.

"Rick is my friend… more like an older brother in a sense. I'm married and I love my husband very much." Carly says, Shane not believing her even when he saw Johnny walk in.

"You're assuming the wrong thing, mister… just like you assume that Judith is yours, you don't have any proof." Johnny says.

"Well there is a way which is DNA testing." Shane says.

' _Damn, just like with Negan.'_ Carly thought as she grabbed a cotton swab and stuck it in Shane's mouth for a few seconds before putting it in a plastic bag. Carly, Johnny and Shane left after he was freed from the chair, ending up at Mount Zonah as Clint swabbed the inside of Judith's mouth and she babbled at him afterwards while sat on Rick's lap.

"Mama!" Judith says, her and Carly hugging and Shane looking at Rick in slight shock.

"She calls that lady mama?" Shane asks.

"Yeah so what?" Amber asks as her and Daryl walked into Mount Zonah.

It was some time before Clint returned with the results… and just like Carly had thought, Judith was Rick's biological daughter and Shane sat down, feeling a bit defeated.

"I… I always thought she was mine…" Shane says.

"We all make assumptions, Shane." Carly says, half expecting him to act like Negan did to her but when he reached out towards her, all he did was rub her right shoulder.

"And sometimes they're not always right." Shane says, Judith looking up at him.

"Shane?" Judith says, feeling bad for him but Shane lightly stroked her hair for a few seconds.

"It's okay, kiddo. Take care." Shane says before leaving.

Shane walked around the city, stopping for a bit and Ashley seeing him and walking over.

"You alright there, mister?" Ashley asks.

"Just feeling a bit… sad. A child I thought was mine, it turns out she's not and she's too little to remember her biological mother and calls another woman mama. This woman… she kind of looks like my ex, just a bit shorter and her hair's a little lighter." Shane says.

"This woman… just turned 20, faintest hint of purple in her blue eyes?" Ashley asks.

"You know her?" Shane asks.

"She's my cousin." Ashley says. "And don't think about using her as an replacement for your ex, she's already taken."

"I'm not that fucked up." Shane says.

"Says the guy you though he had a kid and try to kill his best friend so he could be with his wife. That's a pretty fucked up level." Ashley says.

"Hey, there are people worse than that!" Shane says, Ashley nodding in agreement before she left.

When she reached the house in Chumash, she saw Carly folding up some grey and pink onesies and one reading _Mommy's Little Angel_.

"That one is cute." Ashley says.

"Yeah, her middle name is Angeline… I saw it while out with the others and grabbed it." Carly says, Ashley sitting next to her because she could tell even through the excitement of having a child, Carly wished that things had ended differently with Trevor. "If we had been on better terms… you think he would've been happy, accepted her?" She asks.

"Yeah I think he would have." Ashley says.

"I miss those days sometimes… but looking back hurts too much." Carly says, Ashley pulling her into a hug.

"I miss those days too." Ashley says.

 **A few weeks later…**

Carly opened her eyes one morning when she felt Sachi's tiny feet move for the first time and rubbed her stomach, reaching over as Johnny woke up and resting his hand on her stomach, Johnny smiling.

"Well hello there, little girl…" Johnny says at the same time Amber walked in and over to them, resting her hand on Carly's stomach and smiling.

"That's your little niece, Amber…" Carly says, smiling herself.

"Well I have a feeling that she's gonna give you trouble." Amber says.

"Like most little ones." Carly says, her and Amber hugging before Amber headed back downstairs and saw Merle, who was half asleep.

"Tough night on your shift?" Amber asks.

"It was a bit tough it's nothing that couldn't be handled." Merle says.

"Hopefully you can rest tonight." Amber says.

"I'd let you or Carly take over but you two and those little ones need all the rest you can get." Merle says.

"Merle if you do want to switch shift so you can rest, I can switch with you." Amber says.

"I already agreed to switch with…" Merle says as Rick walks in.

"With Rick?" Amber asks.

"I can barely sleep nowadays." Rick says as Carly and Johnny, ready for the day, walked downstairs.

"Morning you two." Rick says.

"Good morning." Carly says as Rick walked over and the two hugged, Rick jumping slightly as he hadn't expected Sachi to kick when he touched Carly but smiled and rested a hand on Carly's stomach.

"Yeah she's up and moving." Amber says.

"Cute little one… hi, little goddaughter." Rick says.

 **A few days later, Paleto Bay Church...**

"Nervous?" Carly asks as she helped zip up Amber's wedding dress.

"I feel good but nervous at the same time." Amber says.

"Daryl's many things but he loves you with all his heart, Amber…" Carly says, trailing off and Amber knowing she was about to quote the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

"Please Carly, I don't need some quote." Amber says, before looking at herself in the mirror. "I look so weird with my hair done fancy and all this makeup."

"It feels weird at first… and I was about to quote what she said about not forgetting the one brief shining moment that was Camelot. Don't know why, that quote just always got stuck in my head." Carly says, Amber chuckling.

"It's a good one… she was right." Amber says, rubbing Carly's stomach as Sachi kicked crazily.

"Calm down kiddo." Amber says.

"She's excited… hey, easy Sachi." Carly says, letting out a small grunt as she felt Sachi's left foot hit her ribcage.

Out in the main room of the church after a while, the wedding started. When Amber and Daryl recited their vows and were pronounced husband and wife, they kissed and everyone cheered.

At the reception, Carly sat down to take a break from dancing and Daryl walked over to his sister in law, slightly concerned.

"Bit of a troublemaker?" Daryl asks.

"She's running around in there." Carly says, Daryl resting a hand on Carly's stomach and feeling Sachi's feet run across Carly's ribcage, Daryl smiling.

"Uncle Daryl. Mama and Sachi okay?" Judith says after running to him, Daryl picking her up and putting her on his lap.

"Yes, we're all okay kiddo." Daryl says.

Back at home after the wedding, Carly unzipped her floor length dark blue maid of honor dress and kicked her shoes off before changing into a pair of maternity shorts and a racerback tank top before sitting down and stretching her legs out as Trent walked upstairs.

"Hey tiny." Trent says.

"Hey. Just taking a bit of a break." Carly says as Trent sat down next to her.

"Okay sure." Trent says.

"When we first met them almost a year ago… did you think everything could basically be normal again?" Carly asks.

"Tiny, nothing can go back to normal. We've just got to make the best of what we have." Trent says.

"Yeah… it's been strangely quiet though, none of those… walkers since you guys blew up the Altruist camp, I think that's where they originated from." Carly says, rubbing her stomach as Sachi kicked and Trent reaching over and resting his hand, smiling when he felt Sachi's tiny feet hit his hand.

"Hi little one." Trent says. "You being good for mommy?" He asks.

"She's trying to be. She can get restless at night." Carly says.

"She got her days and nights a bit confused." Trent says.

"Most little ones do." Carly says, thinking back.

 **2 years ago…**

Carly looked down and saw 3 year old Annie asleep against her, sitting down as Johnny walked downstairs from putting Jackson to bed.

"I was wondering why it got so quiet down here." Johnny says quietly as he sits down next to Carly.

"You ever think about… kids? Us being parents one day, John… you think we'd be good parents?" Carly asks, Johnny lightly stroking her hair.

"You doubt yourself too much… I know you worry that you'll turn out like Amanda but you won't." Johnny says, the two kissing and him kissing Annie's forehead as Midnight and Packie snuck in.

"Hey, Jackson asleep as well?" Midnight asks.

"Yeah. Annie was a little hard to settle down though." Carly says, Midnight knowing that Annie was going through the terrible threes.

"Yeah she going through that I don't want to sleep phase." Midnight says.

"We all do at that point…" Carly says, Midnight taking a still asleep Annie into her arms.

"I want a little cousin…" Annie mumbles in her dream like state.

"You will one day Annie." Midnight whispers.

 **Present time…**

"Hey… feel better being back in normal clothes?" Carly says after Annie climbed up on the bed, Annie resting her hands on Carly's stomach and laughing slightly as Sachi responded by kicking.

"Does it feel weird when she does that?" Annie asks.

"At first it did. You or Jackson ask your parents for a sibling yet?" Carly says.

"Yes and last night we overheard them talking about it." Annie says.

Carly saw Annie climb up on Trent, the two hugging.

"Talk to Aunt Hayley, Uncle Trent." Annie says before leaving, Trent turning slightly red and looking at Carly.

"She must've been listening…" Trent says.

"Hayley's pregnant?" Carly asks.

"Yes." Trent says.

"And you're worried…" Carly says, Trent nodding. "Look at it this way, miracles only come around once in a lifetime. Sam and Sammy are talking about kids, Zero and Angus want little ones too as well as Dash and Niko… and this may scare you a lot worse but so do Immy and Franklin. When you're given something precious, you do everything to protect them." She says, Trent brushing tears away.

"I know tiny but I'm just terrified of losing Hayley or the kid or even both." Trent says.

Carly wrapped her arms around him, the two hugging and then Trent rested his left ear by Carly's stomach and heard Sachi snoring lightly and smiled.

"She loves her Uncle Trent…" Carly whispers.

It was a few days later that Trent walked downstairs and saw Carly looking at old photos of herself as a kid and Trent noticed that it was mostly Michael, Trevor and Brad playing with her in them with the occasional one of the three Townley children.

"Jock Cranley lifted the curfews and martial law… but people are still staying vigilant." Carly says as Trent sat down next to her and noticed the scent of spinach alfredo and jalapenos.

"Someone loves jalapeños." Trent says.

"Spiciness soothes her, she's asleep again." Carly says, Trent hearing her humming the melody to _Mercy Street_ as Amber walked in.

"Are they playing cricket again?" Trent asks.

"Yeah and I joined in a little before Daryl put a halt to it." Amber says.

Carly jumped back as the kitchen window smashed into pieces, waking Sachi up and causing her to kick crazily.

"Tommy you idiot, tiny's gonna kill you!" Daryl yells.

"This is why I should have stayed in play Daryl!" Amber yells back.

"Tiny?!" Tommy says.

"You're fixing that window, Thomas." Carly says, rubbing her stomach and soothing Sachi.

"You woke Sachi up, didn't you?" Scott asks.

"Yeah he did." Amber says.

"Speaking of little ones Amber, niece or nephew?" Johnny asks after walking in.

"Yeah, girl or boy?" Carly asks.

"Well Daryl and I know but we're debating on telling you guys or making you wait until it's born." Amber says.

Carly stretched out to try to relax, Sachi kicking in a frenzied manner and Carly grunting as one of her ribs got caught in the kicking as Johnny rested his right hand on her stomach.

"Easy, Sachi. Mommy only has so many ribs." Johnny says as Daryl walked in and he and Amber kissed.

"She causing trouble?" Daryl asks, Carly nodding.

"What do you think Daryl? Should we tell them?" Amber asks.

"Tell us! I want to know if I won 50 bucks!" Tommy yells.

"Gonna need more than that to fix the window!" Daryl says.

 **Carly's P.O.V, A while later…**

"You're kind of quiet." Rick says after sitting down across from me.

"Just got her to settle back into sleep." I say. When I met Rick and everyone who were travelling with him a year ago, I didn't imagine what would happen… now I can't ever imagine life without them in it.

I do miss Trevor though but he could never truly accept that this is what life for all of us is like now.

"If you could go back in time, Rick… would you change anything you've regretted?" I ask.

"I do wish it hadn't ended like it did with Lori… she was the first woman I fell in love with. Then I think about Michonne and how happy we are… then I think about how happy you are with Johnny and determined to stay that way. I have few regrets in life, Carly Jade… but I wouldn't change it. And neither would you, I know you too well." Rick says, carefully pulling me into a hug.

It's after we let go that I felt it start up again… Rick has that slightly panicked look and lightly grips my hand as I breathe until the false alarm stops, Johnny running outside along with Amber, Daryl and Merle.

"False alarm." I say as Johnny lightly rubs his hand up and down my back, Amber sighing a little.

"That's good… still a bit scary though." Amber says.

"She might be born a bit early but not too early, still got about 3 ½ months left." I say, trying to reassure my sister from panicking.

My sister… my best friend.

 **Amber's P.O.V**

"Think they'll be okay?" I ask after Daryl and I walk upstairs into our room and close the door.

"I think they will and us as well." Daryl says, resting his hand onto my stomach.

It's hard not to worry… it's all new to us as well as Maggie and Glenn, Trent and Hayley… and to my surprise, Immy and Franklin. Looking at the notepad, I find a name circled… Alexander Michael.

"Alexander Michael Dixon." I say.

"I remember you telling me how much you adored your grandfather…" Daryl says. Granddad Alexander… he would be proud that things are finally full circle.

Walking back downstairs, I see Carly on the couch, watching _Courage The Cowardly Dog_ and hear Courage say "The things I do for love.".

"That saying never gets old." I say.

"Yeah. Although I wouldn't recommend letting the little ones watch the King Ramses episode for some time." Carly says… she's right, that one is damn scary.

"Yeah. Carly you're going to have a little nephew." I say.

Carly stood up and pulled me into a hug, me returning the hug… my sister, auntie to Alexander… mother to Sachi.

And as much as she doesn't want to admit it, a gentle person at heart…


End file.
